Choices
by Forgotten Lake
Summary: Shinichi and his parents decide it will be safer for him to stay with another family, one in which he will blend in more and garner less attention. Kaito won't know what hit him.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan, and will continue to not own Detective Conan for the rest of this story. I will be adding no further disclaimers.

**Choices**

_Chapter 1_

Shinichi sat on a swing in the park, staring down at his shoes. It had been three days since he'd been turned into Conan, and Shinichi Kudo's disappearance had become an official police investigation. Megure was heading the investigation personally, and had come to question Ran about the last time she'd seen him. Shinichi had slipped away, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Everyone was worrying about him (other then Ran's father) and he couldn't even tell them he was right there. He especially wanted to tell Ran, who he was pretty sure had been crying at night. He'd never kept a secret from her before.

Okay, he'd sorta kept the fact that he was pretty sure he was in love with Ran from her. But that didn't count. It wasn't that kind of secret.

He didn't have a choice though. He didn't want her involved in this. If she knew, she'd be right at the front line, wanting to go beat up the guys who did this to him, and make them tell her where the poison was.

Shinichi smiled slightly at that thought. It was an amusing image, but even Ran's incredible skills at karate would be nothing to a well-aimed bullet. It was better not to chance it.

So he was out here, making sure he resisted any urge to tell Ran and keep her from being upset. It was crucial that an investigation be made, because the guys who tried to kill him would be suspicious if no investigation occurred. Shinichi Kudo was a public figure, and wouldn't disappear without it being published and broadcast across Japan. Besides, there was almost no way other then a personal appearance that would permanently allay their suspicions. Shinichi was not in the habit of skipping school, he had disappeared from a park, and he hadn't sent word back in three days. It was obvious to anyone that knew him that something was wrong, and a phone call or a letter, while temporarily reassuring, could be done at gun point or some other threat to force cooperation, not that Shinichi had done either of those.

Were the police still at the apartment? Was it safe to go back yet? Even if they were gone, there was still Ran. He hated seeing her go through this. Maybe this stay with the Mouri family idea of the professor's wasn't such a good one. He hadn't really felt that comfortable with it to begin with, but Ran was there and then the stupid professor just HAD to foist him off on Ran. Probably thought it was romantic or some such nonsense.

In all honesty, it was the place he was most likely to get caught. Ran knew practically everything about him-it was doubtful he could keep her from finding out forever. Besides, if the baka started solving cases, he might become a target for this mysterious organization. If he became a target, Ran and Conan would become targets.

And here the whole let's not tell Ran for her own safety thing became a moot point.

On the other hand, he didn't really have anywhere else to go. He needed to investigate this crime ring, but it wasn't like a kid like he was now could go and start solving cases. That would be like walking around with a sign saying "I'm Kudo Shinichi!" attached to his back.

Gods, it was such a mess. How was he supposed to do this by himself?!

"Well. Hiroshi told me, but…" Shinichi looked up, eyes wide in alarm. He recognized that voice!

"Dad!" he blurted out. It was great to see his dad and all (even if he was dressed up-couldn't really be seen as Yusaku Kudo when his son was missing) but he did not like being seen like this!

His dad's smile was crooked. "You got cocky," he said.

Shinichi sighed, and looked down at his feet above the dusty ground. "Yeah," he muttered.

His dad sat on the next swing over. "I'm just glad I'm not at your funeral right now. Getting cocky in your line of work can be deadly."

"Might as well be," Shinichi muttered, "I'm practically useless like this. I need to start investigating, but I have practically no resources. Just a bumbling idiot I have to lead around by his nose without raising any suspicions while his daughter, my childhood friend watches, and try not to arose HER suspicions. Or get them targeted. Which basically means not solving cases, and not finding out about this damn group!"

"Easy there," his father said. "Your mother and I talked about it. You're right; you're not going to be able to work with Hiroshi's plan. He means well, but it puts Ran and her father in trouble without them knowing. I don't know what to do about the leg work quite yet, but I do have another solution."

"I'm not going back to America with you and mom. I can't. It's too far away, and besides, it would be incredibly suspicious for the Kudos' to suddenly have lost a teenager and gained a kid!" Shinichi protested, looking up at his dad. That's another thing that sucked about this entire thing. He'd worked hard for those inches to be able to look his father in the eyes, and now he was micro-kid again.

"You're right," Yusaku said. Shinichi blinked. That was easy.

"What you need is a place where people don't know you, where you fit into a family. You need a place where you can have the peace to investigate, the tools. You need to be out of the public eye. Your mother, actually, was the one to think of the perfect place. A friend of hers, widowed, is willing to take you in. She knows who you are. Wait, don't make that face. While requiring a leap of logic, it isn't that hard to figure out. We need a child taken into a family and have a claim made that you are indeed a part of it. Our child has gone missing publicly on the news. The child being taken in looks alarmingly like a younger version of the one on the news. From the outside, it doesn't look suspicious, but from someone who knows us, your mother, it would be insulting not to tell her. She'd guess, and relatively quickly if we didn't tell her. Another thing that makes this the perfect place is that you fit into the family. We were going to say you were a cousin, but Kotori insisted on saying you were her son's half brother. I hate doing it like that, but it is less suspicious. I'm sure Toichi would understand it was for a good cause."

"Kotori? Toichi? Who are these people?" Shinichi asked, "If they're such good friends, why have I never even heard of them?"

"It's complicated." Yusaku's voice discouraged any further questioning.

Shinichi decided to let it drop for now. He could always investigate later. "Why is the illegitimate son such a good angle? Did they have an unstable marriage?"

Yusaku looked slightly shocked. "Of course not. But…you share an incredible likeness to Toichi. Well, Toichi and I did as well-we always joked about it. That's partially why you fitting in there would be particularly easy. Why you aren't going as a cousin? There is no public record of Toichi having a brother. It's too easy to disprove. Secondly, it honestly much less suspicious. Why would anyone agree to pretend that their husband cheated on her? It's possible, but highly unlikely, and always means it is much easier to fake your paper trail."

"You must be very good friends for her to agree to do this," Shinichi said, "What about the son? Does he know?"

Toichi frowned. "He's very touchy about his father. If he knows the truth, he might be tempted, in the heat of anger, to blurt out it isn't the truth. He might be able to keep his temper, but…for now it's safer to hide this fact."

Shinichi's face resembled a much younger version of his father's, expression and all. "I wouldn't like it if something like that happened to me. It's not very fair to him. I don't like it."

Yusaku shook his head. "Do you think I like the idea? That Toichi's going to be thought of as an adulterer? Kotori suggested it, however, and she's the one who's going to have the hardest time with it."

"Is there anyway to make the story sound more sympathetic to Toichi? I do not want to break up a family."

"We have tried as hard as we can. An obsessive fan of Toichi's slipped something into his drink, and you were the product of that. Since Toichi died eight years ago, you're going to have to be about nine years old. You were premature for your age, which is why you look so young. Your mother died in child birth-your aunt took you in. You and she were on a camping trip in China and she fell off a cliff. You ran and got help, but were too late. While deciding what to do with you since you had no more known remaining relatives, they discovered in your aunt's papers that Toichi was your father. They contacted Kotori and she decided to take you in, once blood tests proved that you were indeed her husband's son." Yusaku explained.

Shinichi sighed. "How old is the son? Are you so sure you can't trust him?"

Toichi shrugged. "He's your age, actually. Your real age. And I'd trust his character, but he can be a bit enthusiastic at times. She says he's good about his own secrets, but not as much about other's. And that he's very protective of his father's reputation, and might be inclined to let something slip when teased about that. At least that is what Kotori told me."

"What if we told him the partial truth? That I'm the son of an old friend of his mother's, that she saw something she shouldn't have, and now we're in hiding. She was worried about me, and asked Kotori-san to take her son in because she's afraid they'll use me as a bargaining chip to keep her silence. Would he be keep his silence if he knew my life might be in danger, but less inclined to talk then he would if he knew the complete truth? People tend to be more protective towards children-he'd be less likely to spill a child's secret as compared to an equal. I don't mean to press, but I don't feel comfortable doing it the way you suggested. Logically, it makes sound sense, but…if the roles were reversed I'd feel very bitter towards the child. Conflicted. Mad at my dad. I don't want to mess up his relationship with his father, and I don't want to have to deal with his antagonism at what would be my new home."

Yusaku thought a minute. "If you did it that way, it might work. I really don't want to have to do that Kaito either. It's your decision though. Your life you're risking."

Shinichi shrugged. "I'd much rather do it that way if it's feasible."

"All right. Let's say our goodbyes to Ran and her father, and then we'll go to your house to get you packed. Remember, you can't take too many personal things. Nothing that doesn't fit into Conan's personality. What is it by the way?" Yusaku asked as he stood up.

Shinichi jumped out of the swings and they set off for the Mouri residence. "Well, I thought in the long term it would be better for me if I keep a bit in line with my current one. Soccer would not be an unusual thing for me to excel at, and I can get away with being a bit of a bookworm as well. Wait-you are giving me access to your sources so I can put my time at the Kuroba residence to good use, right?"

"You just want to get your hands on it," Yusaku said, "All that work I've put into building and maintaining it, and you just want to reap the benefits."

"Of course! But there is nothing else you could really be planning on having me do there. So, most of that will probably be electronic, and it might then follow that Conan likes computer and video games, thus excusing long periods of time spent on a computer," Shinichi stated.

"I'd say you need to cut out either the soccer or the reading. Likely the soccer, because your skills are well beyond average for such a small nine year old," Yusaku admonished, "You can't keep too many similarities."

Shinichi sighed. "Right," he said, "Do you think I should be overly curious, or reticent then?"

"Maybe pretty reserved personally, but a good listener. Good at asking questions that will encourage people to talk," Yusaku said.

"Okay. I suppose mom wants to go shopping," Shinichi said, "since I don't have much left from my younger years."

"We'll be picking up a few things. You'll need a computer, some games, and clothes. Your mom is absolutely thrilled about that," Yusaku said.

"Are we going to be stopping at some thrift stores for some used clothing? It will look suspicious if everything's new," Shinichi said.

"You know your mother better then that! Of course we're going to balance out your wardrobe. We do still have a few of your older things, and we'll hit a few thrift stores as well. You'll be getting a few new things too, because it makes sense you'd at least have a few new things," Yusaku said.

"Will I need to get a haircut?" Shinichi asked.

"No. Well, we'll need to style it a little bit differently, but once that is done, you'll fit into your new family perfectly," Yusaku said.

Yusaku, receiving no response, looked back. Shinichi stood there, looking up at Ran's apartment building with apprehension. After a moment, he came back to himself and noticed his father staring at him.

"Sorry," Shinichi apologized, "It's just…I hate giving up like this."

"You're not giving up. You're retreating to study your opponent until you have the knowledge needed to defeat him. You're my son, and I know you'll beat this organization, just like you have every other criminal to date," Yusaku said, "And then you'll come back, and marry Ran, and give your mother and I grandchildren to spoil."

"Dad!" Shinichi protested.

Yusaku smirked slightly, but his smile faded as he stared up at the building. "Let's get this over with," he said, "the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can return."

Ran hugged Conan goodbye (while Shinichi desperately tried to forget what exactly his head was resting against) and fussed over him while he packed everything. It seemed to help her forget about him being missing, so Shinichi let her without much protest. Besides, he was too depressed about leaving Ran behind, even if she didn't know Conan was Shinichi. All too soon, Ran was waving goodbye. It would be the first time since they meet that they would be separated for more then a couple of days. Shinichi's heart sunk, and he remained rather quiet and without protest as they meet with his mother and they went shopping for things to fit his new persona. He learned more about the family, what he should admit to knowing, and a couple of things that a kid his age wouldn't normally be told, but things that Yusaku felt he needed to know, such as the suspicious death of Kuroba Toichi.

They stopped and picked up a few things from Shinichi's house, mostly books since he was keeping that aspect of his personality.

At one point, Yukiko called and let Kotori know that the son, Kaito, should have the situation explained to him fully. They spent the night at a hotel, and the next morning was on the way to the Kuroba residence.

**End**

This story came about through various thought processes, but I quickly fell in love with it. The basic idea of the story is that Yusaku and Yukiko decide it would be safer for Shinichi deeper in hiding, and Shinichi agrees because he doesn't think he'll fool Ran forever, and she'll be safer if he's gone. The question, then, is where should he go? Of course, the place he would best fit would be the Kuroba residence, seeing as how he looks to similar to Toichi and Kaito. Obviously, the two won't be finding out about each other for a bit, but that will give them a chance to get to know each other. I think this is going to be a promising story, and a chance to explore a few different avenues.

I would like to note here that throughout the story I will be occasionally referencing my _Truth Will Prevail_ series, simply because I like the background I've developed in it. It shouldn't be necessary to read the series, but if you are ever confused about a point, you should be able to clarify it there or ask me about it in a review.

I would also like to note that I'm making a change in how the police react to Shinichi's disappearance. I never thought it really made much sense for everyone to just assume that Shinichi's off somewhere safe, since he would be a likely target for revenge. I also think that the Black Organization would grow highly suspicious after a few days when there are no news stories about Kudo Shinichi's disappearance. It would make no sense for Shinichi to let everyone think he's okay, just away for awhile, when it is crucial that people think he's missing, presumed dead. Besides, wasn't that pretty much what Shinichi's role model, Sherlock Holmes did? I rest my case.

Well, I hope everyone's enjoyed this first chapter. I'm looking forward to continuing this. I'll ask your forgiveness on any occasional mistakes that aren't canon, since I've got limited access to the Magic Kaito series and have only read volumes 1-21 in the manga.

Oh, and I wasn't able to find out what Mrs. Kuroba's name was, so I came up with Kotori, which I believe means something along the lines of bird of luck. It seemed to fit the wife and mother of both Kaitou Kids.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, I got so happy about all my reviews that I sat down and typed this chapter. Thank you, everyone, and I hope you enjoy this new installment!

**Choices**

_Chapter 2_

"Hi mom!" Kaito said as he entered through the door, "How was your day?"

"It was fine, dear. Could you come in here please?" Kotori asked.

She sounded-worried. Kaito dropped his school bag and went straight to the kitchen. "What's the matter?" Kaito asked.

"I have a problem, dear. An old friend of mine and your fathers is in a bit of trouble. Her nine-year old son saw something he shouldn't have on the way home from school and the police won't be able to bring the case to court without some extra evidence. Someone leaked the name of the witness to the criminals, and they're coming after her son," Kotori explained.

"Do you need some help with disguises? Or are they staying with us?" Kaito asked.

His mom smiled a bit. "No, she's worried that if she stays with him, they'll be easy to find. She thinks that they'll be so busy looking for the two of them that they wouldn't consider that she would be willing to let someone else watch him. The police have her in hiding, but she wanted someone she could trust to take care of him."

"Oh, okay. We're taking him in. Sounds cool. Always thought a little brother would be fun!" Kaito said. A kid also might be a little too curious, but he could handle it, he was sure.

"Well, it's not that simple," Kotori said slowly, "His cover story is going to be a bit complicated."

"I'm sure we'll think of something. Cousin staying to visit, or something of that sort," Kaito waved that problem off. Coming up with stories was child's play.

"That's not the problem. My friend's father looked a bit like Toichi. People occasionally mistook one for the other. His son strongly favors him, which means that he has a strong resemblance to both you and Toichi. We can't say he's my cousin because he looks so much like Toichi, and it is a matter of public knowledge that Toichi was an only child," Kotori said slowly.

Kaito had a very, very bad feeling about this. "Mom," he said, "you can't seriously be thinking of saying that dad cheated on you!"

"I know it's distasteful, but if we're to take him in that is the only way. People would only be gossiping about it if we didn't go ahead and admit to it, even if it isn't the truth. The less attention we gather, the better. You should know that. Cause a distraction in one place so that people aren't looking at what you don't want them to see," Kotori said.

"Can't we just use a disguise? Or isn't there somewhere else he could stay? Won't the people looking for them come looking here since you are friends?" Kaito asked.

Kotori sighed. "People really didn't know we were friends. It was kept quiet. No one should think to come looking here. We could dye his hair, but it would fit better this way. You know the value of a good cover story, a good distraction. This fits very well. And we're not saying that Toichi cheated on me deliberately."

"How could dad have cheated on you accidentally?" Kaito asked.

"An overzealous fan slipped something in his drink and took advantage of him. She died in childbirth, and the child went to stay with his aunt in China. On a hiking trip this past spring she fell over a cliff and died. While looking for any family to place him with in her papers they discovered that he was Toichi's son. Once I had everything explained to me, and a test confirmed the results, I said I'd take him in. We're not going to broadcast the fact since that would be suspicious, but we can explain when asked. Hopefully the explanation will discourage too much questioning, since it's a delicate subject. And it's a hard story to disprove. I know it's distasteful, but Toichi wouldn't mind. He was as good as, if not better then, friends with the father then I was with the mother. He wouldn't want anything to happen to their child," Kotori said, "And neither would I, which is why I'm whiling to do this."

Kaito hated the idea. He didn't want people thinking ill of his father. It was a good story, objectively, a good one to put suspicions aside especially since Hakuba was sure to check up on the story. And it was just a nine-year old boy with criminals after him. It was people like them that made him so determined to catch the ones he was after.

Damn his soft heart anyways.

"Is there anything that needs to be moved to the guest room for him then?" Kaito asked.

His mother smiled at him, and its brilliance made him feel a little better. "If we could move the desk down from the basement and a couple of bookshelves: that would be good. I already have the bed remade in something a little more suitable. Thank you, Kaito."

"Not a problem, mom," he said, and the two went off to work.

Heiji Hattori was walking to the Mouri residence. He'd been curious about meeting his counterpart and seeing if he was worthy before, but with Kudo Shinichi's disappearance, his schedule got a lot clearer. Apparently Kudo wasn't as good as everyone said. He was hoping that by finding out what exactly happened to him, he'd prove that he was truly the better detective while getting revenge for someone who could just as easily been him. Of course he hoped Kudo was still alive, but he doubted it. Kudo was better dead for most concerned criminals. It was a small possibility he was kidnapped for ransom, but if that was the case there should have already have been demands made, and Kudo's parents said they hadn't heard anything. Normally, he'd think that the parents were faking it, but since the father had worked closely with the police before, he knew better then to keep the police out of it.

Even if it had been a case of kidnapping, it was doubtful that Kudo would have survived that either. It would be too likely that Kudo would hunt them down if released.

Inspector Megure had been a bit reluctant to let an outsider in, but he couldn't refuse extra help. He'd gone over the files, went over the interviews from yesterday, had gone to the park to see where Kudo had last been seen, and now all that was left was talking with his closest friend. He actually mentioned that Ran might be a suspect, but Megure had looked at him like he was the stupidest person on earth. Apparently they were rather close.

Personally, Hattori didn't think that counted for too much. He half expected that Kazuha would be the death of him someday, and they'd been friends practically since the crib.

Even if she wasn't the culprit, she probably was the one who knew the most about Kudo in Japan, since his parents lived in America. Any clue she could give him could help.

Before too long, he was at the apartment. He knocked, and was answered by a rather pretty brunette. Maybe those rumors that Kudo and Mouri had been together weren't total nonsense.

"Hello. I'm Hattori Heiji and I was hoping I could talk to you about Kudo's disappearance," Hattori said.

Mouri Ran flinched slightly. She looked like she'd been trying to act like everything was okay, but her overall appearance seemed off. She was wearing a short skirt, which for summer wasn't so surprising, but she was wearing it with a heavy winter sweater that looked a bit big for her. Maybe a sentimental attachment: a gift from Kudo? Or maybe it was Kudo's sweater, since it seemed a little big for her. Her eyes were red from crying, and her house sandals were mismatched. Her hair seemed a bit messy too.

"I've never heard of you. Why are you here?" she asked, "Inspector Megure was here yesterday. I've already told him everything."

Heiji blinked. In his own town, he was as famous as Shinichi, but apparently Kudo had never mentioned his rival to his girlfriend. "I'm a detective, like your Kudo was, and…"

"Not was! Is!" she almost yelled, "I keep telling you people Shinichi isn't dead! He wouldn't die like that! He didn't!"

Heiji blinked and held up his hands in front of him. "I know this must be hard on you, Mouri-san, but all evidence points to…"

"Evidence? You detectives always obsessed with the evidence. I know Shinichi's not dead. He can't be, because he promised!" Ran shouted, "Leave me alone!"

Heiji stared at the door that had just been slammed in his face. "I'll come back later," he said, and left. He really needed to work on his questioning technique.

Ran hugged Shinichi's sweater. He'd given it to her just this last winter when she had been shivering, and it had never made it back to him. She knew she was acting a bit crazy (her dad had left, mumbling something under his breath. He was probably off somewhere getting drunk and complaining about Shinichi) but she knew he wasn't dead. It was irrational, and yes, the evidence did point to Shinichi likely being dead, but she just knew he wasn't.

If he wasn't dead, though, that meant he was in trouble. He'd gotten caught up in something, something dangerous. If it was just a normal case he would have shown up by now, if only to call her an idiot for worrying.

She needed to find him. The police were too busy searching for Shinichi's body-she was going to look for Shinichi.

"Okay," Ran said to herself, "I'm Shinichi. Something bad happened, what's the first thing I do? Probably go home. Or go to…" she trailed off, and she brightened, "I'd go to Professor Agasa. All right then." She moved the walk out the door, a determined glint in her eyes, but paused. "Better change first," she muttered, and went to change into something lighter.

It made sense, Ran thought. Professor Agasa had been a bit jumpy ever since Shinichi had disappeared. He'd never had the benefit of learning to lie and deceive with Yukiko like Shinichi and she had. Especially the night Shinichi disappeared. Her fists tightened. If Professor Agasa knew anything, she would shortly know herself.

Ran burst into Agasa's house and went straight to his workroom. He looked up, his face turning sympathetic when he saw who it was. "Hello," he said, "how have you been doing?"

Ran's lips tightened. "I've been doing fine, no thanks to you and the baka. You're going to tell me everything. I know Shinichi came here after he got in trouble, and I know you helped him. Tell me where he is!" Okay, so she was guessing, but it would sound better if she pretended she knew what she was talking about.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about, Ran. He's been missing for four days now!" Professor Agasa protested.

Okay. She was going to have to do this the hard way. She grabbed the nearest odd looking bit of machinery and held it up, looking at it, considering.

Agasa let out a slight screech. "Ran! Be careful! That's a…" but Ran interrupted him.

"Some delicate experiment. I know. Unfortunately, if you don't start telling me the truth, it's going to be in a lot more pieces," Ran said. She hated to do this, but she was going to find Shinichi, and kill him for worrying her.

"There's…there's nothing to tell! Ran! No! Please! No, not the…wait! No stop!" he wailed, "I'll tell you, I'll tell you! Stop trashing my lab!"

"That's better. I'm listening," Ran said, and set the latest bit of equipment down, though she kept her hand resting on it. Professor Agasa's eyes kept flitting from her face back down to her hand.

"He's…he's okay. He just had a case come up," Agasa tried.

Ran frowned. "I'm afraid that's not the right answer," she said, and picked the machine back up, "If it was a normal case, he wouldn't skip school, and he wouldn't be letting people think he's dead. Try again."

"He's in a bit of trouble and having to lie a bit low," Professor Agasa said, "They think he's dead, and if they find out he isn't, he's going to be in trouble. Now please, set it down!"

Ran frowned, though a wave of relief swept through her. Shinichi was alive. She'd known it. Of course, something had happened to him. "They think he's dead? Why? Was he shot?!"

"They gave him an experimental poison. Ran! Please! He was trying to keep you out of this so you didn't get hurt! It would be better if you just pretended this conversation never happened!" Professor Agasa pleaded.

He didn't want her to get hurt. That made her want to smile and hug Professor Agasa and dance around the room. Of course, he was being an idiot because SHE was the one who knew karate, but it was the thought that counted. The important thing was he hadn't kept her in the dark because he didn't want to be friends anymore, or because he didn't trust her.

However, she knew, and she was going to make sure she knew everything, and then she was going to find a way to make herself useful. After she beat him up, of course. Or at least she could smash through a few things in front of him. His eyes always widened so delightfully when she did that.

"Professor. You should know better then to think I'm going to stay out of this. I am going to find out everything that's happened, and then we're going to think of a way I can help. I am not going to stay out of this. You will tell me everything, and then you'll help me figure out what I'm needed to do. And if your lab is going to become a casualty before you stop spitting out little bits of information, then I apologize in advance, because I hold Shinichi's life in much higher regards then your equipment." Ran was calm. Her eyes were hard. And the professor talked.

They'd stopped in the middle of a nice neighborhood. Maybe not quite as nice as his and his parents, but still, it was nice enough.

Shinichi felt his apprehension grow. There would be no turning back after this. The moment he stepped out of this car he would have to be Kuroba Conan. The act could only drop in private, when he had a chance to do research. He'd be stuck here indefinitely, unable to speak to Ran or even Sonoko for any length of time. He'd have to deal with a new family.

"Come on," his father said. His father was dressed as a policeman, his escort, and his mom was dressed professionally, someone from Children's Services. Shinichi took a deep breath, and Conan stepped out of the car.

"Is this my new home?" Conan asked, looking around with wide eyes. Nakamora-san smiled, and ruffled his head. "Yeah, kid, this is your new home. You will behave, right?"

"Yes sir!" Conan said, drawing himself up slightly, "What should I do first?"

"Come help with unloading. Li-chan shouldn't have to unload by herself. A gentleman must always assist a lady," Mr. Nakamora said.

"Like you're a gentleman," Li-san huffed as she picked up a suitcase, "And that's Li-san to you."

"I would debate that, but a gentleman never argues with a lady," Nakamora-san said as he picked up a small box and handed it to Conan.

"Stop flirting with me! I'm not going out with you! I like someone else!" Li-san protested, "I don't care how much you sweet talk me!"

"Hello? Is this Conan-kun?" a woman said. Conan looked up at her. She looked nice. She had a kind face.

"Yes ma'am. Thank you for letting me stay here!" Conan chirped.

"It's not a problem, is it Kaito?" she asked as she looked over her shoulder. Conan followed her line of sight and his mouth almost fell open. No wonder his parents had insisted he stay here. He really would fit in with the family! Especially with his new style, which seemed to simply require not brushing his hair.

"Not a problem at all," Kaito said. He seemed to be staring at Conan as much as Conan was staring at him.

"Kaito, could you grab a couple of boxes and show everyone the way to Conan's new room?" Kotori asked.

Kaito seemed to shake his head slightly, a rueful grin on his face. "Sure," he said, and leaned over to grab a box. His eyes widened as he stood up.

"What's in here, bricks?" he asked.

"Nope! Just my books!" Conan said, "Am I going to look like you when I grow up?"

Everyone chuckled. "Would that be a bad thing?" Kaito asked.

Conan resisted saying, "As long as I brush my hair!" and instead said, "No! You look cool!"

Kaito looked a bit gratified. "Kid's got good taste," he said nonchalantly, "This way to your room! If I have to stand around with all these books any longer, my arms are going to fall off!"

Conan followed him, closely followed by everyone else. It took a couple of loads, but soon everything was loaded into Conan's new room. It still had to be unpacked, but it would have looked odd if the two government officials had stayed to help Conan do that.

Conan stood with his new family, facing his old. "Behave," Nakamora-san reminded him. Conan impulsively leapt on him, dragging him down to his nine-year old level. "You better have left me what I need to use your sources," he muttered to his father.

"I'll miss you too," Nakamora-san said loudly, and hugged Conan a little harder, "It's there. Unpack everything first though," he added, quietly, "And go hug your mother or she'll be jealous."

"Thanks for everything!" Conan said as he released his father and ran over to his mother and hugged her. "If you ever need to talk, my email's in there too," she said quietly. Shinichi's eyes widened. His parents generally made themselves scarce, since his dad's agent had gotten so good at hunting them down. The fact that his mother was giving him a way to communicate with her regularly was appreciated.

"Thank you, Li-san. Don't hit Nakamora-san too hard!" Conan admonished.

Li-san smiled and ruffled Conan's hair. "I might stop in sometimes to check up on you. You weren't too bad for a brat."

Shinichi watched as his parents got back into the car and drove off. His old life had just left, and he was alone to start his new one. He released a slight sigh then straightened his shoulders. Conan turned around with a bright grin and asked, "What's for dinner?"

**End**

Well? I know it didn't have too much of Shinichi/Conan and Kaito in it, but I wanted to set a few other things up. And yes, Ran will be important to the plot. I like her. Ever since I started writing Truth Will Prevail I've gotten attached. And I just had to stick Hattori in. He's so fun. Poor guys, the things I have planned for him. It's so hard, being a writer sometimes, but it's the little things like torturing your characters that brighten up your days.


	3. Chapter 3

**Choices **

_Chapter 3 _

Heiji looked warily at the Mouri door. He wasn't scared of Mouri Ran. Mouri Ran was just another witness, and if he wanted to solve this case and prove he was better than Kudo Shinichi then he needed to talk to her.

Okay, so she did make him a bit nervous yesterday. Just a bit. Heiji sighed. He was pathetic. He raised his hand and knocked on the door. Ran opened the door, and she sighed. "Hi. I'm really sorry about yesterday. I know how cases like this generally go, and it doesn't look good, but I can't…I just can't believe Shinichi is dead. Not him."

Well. She had definitely cooled down since yesterday. "It's okay; I'd probably be the same way if my friend disappeared. Whether he's dead or not, any information you could give me about his disappearance would help me find him."

"All right," Ran agreed, "Let me get my shoes, and I'll be right out."

"You don't need to come out!" Heiji protested, "It shouldn't be too long."

"I was best friends with Shinichi, I know better. You detectives are all the same, questions questions questions," Ran said as she slipped her shoes on, "I'm not going to keep you out here in the hall, and the house is simply a mess, I don't want anyone to see it." She grabbed some keys off a hook and came out into the hallway, locking the door behind her, "I've been so busy, and my dad's worse then a three-year old, I swear!"

Heiji had heard a bit about Mouri. Shame that a detective let himself go like that, becoming a drunk. And it was even worse that Ran apparently ended up being the more adult of the two. "You have a good point," Heiji said, "Now tell me everything about the night from your point of view. I know all about the roller coaster case, but you might have caught some detail someone else missed, so don't leave anything out."

Ran and he walked outside as they talked, and Heiji was impressed with her memory. She knew how to give a good report, and tried to fill in as many details as she could remember. The only snag was at the end, when she described his disappearance. She paused, as if thinking about something, and then said simply that he had run off, probably having spotted something. She was leaving something out. Curious.

"He ran in the direction where they found the kid who almost got murdered, right? The current theory is that the kid saw whoever it was kidnapping Kudo and the kid was hit over the head while they made their getaway. Unfortunately, the kid ran off. The police are looking for him now, but they don't have any clues as to who the kid was. We think whoever kidnapped Kudo was probably looking for information on one of Shinichi's cases, or wanted him to find something for them." Heiji was giving her something; maybe she'd decide to reciprocate with whatever little detail she was holding back.

Ran shook her head. "I don't know that much about his cases. He generally runs off on his own for them," she said, regretfully he thought. Well, it made sense that Kudo not take her with, murders weren't really date material. He didn't like it when Kazuha tagged along, and she was just his friend!

"Do you know if the Kudos would be willing to let us look through his files to see if we can find out what they might be after?" Heiji asked.

Ran's eyebrows narrowed slightly. "Probably not. I think they're sending a friend of theirs over in a couple of weeks to investigate for them, and I think they would prefer to allow her to take the lead for now."

"This is a police investigation," Heiji reminded her, "Besides; I thought that the Inspector and Kudo-san were friends. Why wouldn't he want the Inspector in the house?" She had talked to the Kudos? Why would they send a friend over? Why didn't Kudo's father come over himself-he'd heard Kudo-san was quite a good detective himself?

Ran shrugged then said, "I don't know. Maybe one of the cases Shinichi was working on was sensitive. Yusaku likes Inspector Megure, but Yusaku says he can be a bit heavy handed."

"Could you ask him if he'd mind me taking a look through things? If he feels that the police won't handle it right, I'm a fair hand at these sorts of things," Heiji offered. He was interested to see what her response to that would be.

"No! I mean, Yusaku seemed pretty confident that his friend, Reiko-san, would take care of it. Besides, don't you live in Osaka? It would be hard to really pay attention to this case when you'd have to commute every time you wanted to investigate."

Okay, let's look at the facts. Yesterday, Ran was defensive and seemed worried to death about Kudo. Today she seems a bit calmer about the entire situation, and has apparently been in contact with the Kudos. The Kudos and Ran didn't want anyone digging around in Shinichi's files. They knew something, and didn't want the police involved. Kudo-san was a famous writer and a rather expert detective. He should know that having the police involved would increase Kudo's chances of being found, however, he's withholding information. They wouldn't do that unless they were protecting something…or…he decided to press one more time. "Ran, it wouldn't be any trouble at all. I wouldn't mind helping, and the more detectives looking into it, the more likely that we find him."

"It's all right, Reiko-san is really good at what she does, and I don't think it's a good idea for you to investigate. You're too high profile- whoever has him would get too nervous if they knew you were on the case," Ran said.

Heiji's grin was irrepressible. "You know what happened, don't you? Shinichi isn't missing, he got away, and he is in hiding! That's why the Kudos aren't over here, and that's why you don't want anyone investigating! They must have gotten in contact with you yesterday, which is why you're so much calmer today! Man, Kudo must have gotten himself involved with a whopper if he had to go into hiding! Come, won't you tell me where he is? Or at least give me some information, and I can help."

Ran's eyes had gotten wide then her face lost all expression as he continued, but Heiji was certain he was right. "You jerk!" Ran said as she stood up quickly, "Saying that Shinichi's safe! Shinichi is kidnapped or dead, and you're pretending there is some conspiracy going on! All I want is Shinichi home safe! I don't know you, but I know the Kudo family and if they say Reiko-san is the right person for the job, I trust them! I'm going home!"

Heiji watched her stomp off, and winced as she punched a post. The post wobbled slightly before falling as she marched on. Crap, she was scary!

Anyways, Kudo was alive, and safe. It was the most logical explanation. No matter what Ran said, he was convinced now. And Reiko-san? Heiji's mouth spread across his face in a broad grin. He'd have to meet this "Reiko-san."

"Conan, if you want to go and work on your unpacking, dinner is going to be ready in about two hours," Kotori said.

"Okay, Kuroba-san," Conan said, and ran up the stairs. Kotori and Kaito looked at each other then back at Conan's rapidly disappearing back.

"If this is going to work, he's going to have to start calling you something other than Kuroba-san," Kaito said.

"We'll talk about it over dinner. Why don't you go see if he needs any help?" Kotori suggested, "This is probably very hard for him."

"Okay," Kaito said, and went up the stairs to see what he could do to help Conan. Conan was sitting in his room, looking at all of his boxes with a bit of a forlorn expression, but as soon as he saw Kaito he immediately straightened up and jumped off the bed. "I guess I ought to be getting to work!" he said, and immediately opened to box closest to him.

Kaito felt slightly guilty for interrupting Conan, since he had obviously been taking a moment to recover. Poor kid, having to see a crime and go into hiding. "Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked, surveying all of the boxes.

Conan paused in the middle of lifting out a bundle of books, and looked, obviously carefully considering the question. "My things," he said after a moment, saying the words slowly as if carefully selecting each one, "Some of them are new. I couldn't keep everything. I'm not sure what to do everything."

Kaito blinked. Right. Of course, he couldn't keep everything, not if someone was coming after him. "Well, let's see what's in these boxes, and we'll get your new room decorated in no time, okay?"

Conan smiled up at him cautiously, and Kaito's smile broadened. "Let's see what's in here, shall we?" he proposed, opening the box. There were only piles of clothes, and Kaito dropped slightly. "I guess this isn't my lucky day. Only clothes in this one."

"Open another one then," Conan said as if it was the obvious thing to do.

"Right," Kaito said, and opened the next one. "A skateboard? You any good?"

Conan looked up from his sorting of books. "I guess. It's been awhile since I've skateboarded, though."

"I'm sure it's just like riding a bike. Hope there's a helmet somewhere in here though," Kaito said, "Else mom's not letting you go anywhere. Let's see, do you want it in the closet or leaning against the wall?"

"Against the wall for now," Conan said, "I might need extra room in the closet."

"Okay. Next box. Wow. You sure rate. Nice computer you have here," Kaito said. It wasn't brand new, but a year ago it had definitely been one of the top of the line computers.

"Thanks! I got to keep that! I think they thought I would go crazy if I couldn't play my computer games!" Conan said, "Mom got it for me last year. I was so excited!"

Kaito smiled slightly. "You like computer games? Which one?" He lifted the monitor from the box and set it down on the desk.

"Myst is cool. I love solving the puzzles!" Conan said after a brief moment of contemplation.

"I've heard of that one. You must be pretty smart to be playing that at your age," Kaito said as he got the computer and placed it beside the monitor.

Conan paused then shrugged as he lifted up the pile of books in his arms and hauled them over to the bookshelves. "I guess."

"You're also a bit of a bookworm, aren't you? How many books do you have?" Kaito asked, taking a moment to look at the pile of books that had been unpacked so far.

A brief look of regret passed over his face. "I could only bring a couple of hundred with me."

"A couple...of hundred?" Kaito asked after a moment of shock, "Only?"

Conan smiled up at him. "Mom said bringing the library was too much."

"Library?" Kaito said faintly.

Conan laughed. "I'm just kidding! I don't have THAT many books. Your face looks so funny though!"

Kaito blinked. It had been awhile since anyone had pulled something over on him. A nine-year old too! "Pretty good, kid," Kaito said, grinning a bit.

Conan's nose scrunched slightly, as if he hadn't been expecting that reaction. "What?" he asked.

"Never mind," Kaito said, "Let's keep working."

It was getting close to time to eat by the time they had made some progress. They'd set up the computer on the desk, which really hadn't taken that long compared to how long it took for Conan to finally pronounce the books organized and done. They all had to be in order alphabetically by author, and then chronologically in the order that they were written. Kaito had noticed with dismay that Conan had the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, and had tried to nonchalantly ask if Conan LIKED Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, he adored Sherlock Holmes. Kaito used to have no problem with the literary detective. It was interesting to see the logic as Holmes solved the case, though reading from Watson's point of view in which everything Sherlock did was so magical when it was just observation and logic did grow annoying. However, when he became Kaitou Kid and meet Hakuba, his liking for the literary legend dropped. Why did people have to be so obsessed by him? Why? He was a brilliant person, but couldn't they find someone else to emulate?

Kaito shook his head. Luckily, Conan had a broad selection of books, which meant that he wasn't purely obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, even if most of the rest of the books were mystery. He could handle it as long as Conan didn't start walking around dressed like Holmes. One idiot was enough in this town.

Other than that, they'd also gotten Conan's clothes in the dresser drawers. Luckily those had been packed pretty neatly, so all they'd had to do was transfer them.

"Dinner!" his mom said from the other side of the door. She looked around, obviously impressed at the work they'd done. Kaito looked around himself. It really did look pretty good. The Conan's room was a standard shade of white since it had, after all, been a guest room, but his mom had taken the floral blanket off before Conan had gotten there, and instead had put a blue bedspread on. The bed, as always, was facing the door, its back to the window. On either side of the bed were small beside tables, with the left holding up a lamp for reading, and the right a CD player with a few discs besides it. To his right were three bookshelves that held a heavy load of books. Evil mystery books. On the opposite wall were the closet door and the desk with Conan's computer on it, along with a small pile of computer games of which Myst was indeed one. Wasn't there a sequel or two to it? Be a good idea for a present at some point.

Either way, none of this mattered in the end; because his mother's delicious cooking awaited him. It was time to eat!

Shinichi was, while not thrilled, satisfied with how his room looked. He really wished that he had access to his library. Beyond having all sorts of mystery books, there were hundreds of reference books about poisons, fingerprints, and everything a detective might need for reference material. At least he'd be able to keep up with the newest discoveries by accessing journals online. His dad was supposed have given him a subscription to all of the good journals, under a few different pseudonyms. He'd also set up email accounts for contacting his dad's set of contacts. He'd be busy tonight, setting everything up.

His skateboard had been more of a defensive thing. He'd noticed it in Dr. Agasa's workroom, and had run over to grab it when he was packing to leave-he didn't want to leave his skateboard to the tender mercies of the good doctor. He'd never see it again!

Kaito seemed very friendly, and was acting pretty good natured for someone who would soon have to admit to the false story of his dad cheating on his mom. It would have taken him at least two or three more hours, if not more, if he'd been left to do it all on his own. Stupid kid body.

It was time for dinner, and he was ready to eat. Kuroba-san had made a nice dinner, though probably not as nice as Ran's. Everyone sat and ate quietly for a few moments before Kuroba-san spoke up. "I've scheduled you for an appointment to get you transferred into school tomorrow at about 9:30, if that's okay Conan-kun."

"That sounds great, Kuroba-san!" Conan said, trying to act cheerful at the prospect of going back to simple multiplications and other basic studies. At least he was going to be about nine now, so it wouldn't be QUITE so basic. Still, he'd been bored enough the first time around.

"Conan, I don't mind if you call me mom," Kotori said.

Right, Shinichi that, thinking of the cover story, she's my mom now. "Really? Thanks," Conan said sounding both thankful and cautious.

"Don't worry, Conan, I'm sure they'll catch the idiots, and you'll be able to go home soon!" Kaito said in an obvious attempt to cheer Conan up. Unfortunately, it was at the moment completely up to "Conan" and his dad's sources whether the organization would be caught, so that Conan could become Shinichi, and that was assuming that they could find the poison and devise an antidote.

"Thanks," Conan said, "I hope it won't."

"Maybe tomorrow after school you can show me your skateboard," Kaito suggested.

Well, he hadn't been planning on it, but then as long as he hadn't it, it couldn't hurt. "That sounds fun!"

"Conan, you did pack a helmet, right?" Kotori asked.

"I think I grabbed my old one," Conan replied. It had been sitting by his skateboard and he'd grabbed it to. Doctor Agasa was probably going to make it into some kind of radio transmitter or whatever else his mind could come up with.

"Good. The last thing we need is you getting hurt," Kotori said.

"We'll be careful," Kaito promised. The talk wandered away from serious matters then, with Kaito and Kotori slipping into a discussion about common acquaintances. He kept an ear out, catching references like Aoko, Hakuba, and others. Dinner was soon finished, and they all chipped in to get the dishes done. Afterwards they retired to the living room, where Shinichi spotted a chess board. It was a nice one, a bit on an antique Shinichi thought, and he went to inspect it more closely.

"You play?" Kaito asked.

Well, he couldn't play at his real playing level, but it would be interesting-besides, you could find out a lot about a person by how they played chess, if you paid enough attention. "A bit," Conan admitted.

"Great! Mom doesn't like chess, it will be nice to have someone to play with," Kaito said, "I'll let you pick which color."

"Black," Conan said. He wanted to see what Kaito's first move would be.

The game was an interesting on. Kaito played erratically, seemingly without purpose, but if Shinichi really paid attention, he could see the traps and plots Kaito would set up several moves in advance. It was more challenging then he thought, especially since he had to make sure he didn't do anything way advanced, but made moves that seemed amateurish and appeared to be giving Conan only a short term advantage, but in actuality blocked Kaito from bringing his plans to fruition. Because Shinichi tried to play cautiously, the game wasn't quite finished when Kotori wandered back in and told Kaito that Conan needed to go to bed.

A bed time. Lovely. Kaito complained, but Kotori overrode him. They agreed to finish the game tomorrow, and Kotori winked at Conan as he went up the stairs. Shinichi grinned a bit back at her as he realized that a "bed time" would be a good excuse to go ahead and go to his bedroom and work on his real work.

His bedroom had curtains for the windows, so he pulled those, and then got to work. The light from the computer would show through the door, but he had a secret weapon. It wasn't one he really wanted to use, but, well, it wasn't like he had much of a choice. He stuck a CD into his CD player- Sounds of a Thunderstorm. Not really his preference, but the staccato beats, with rain and thunder playing, would block the sound of his typing.

As he got to work, taking the file of papers out and starting to flip through them, he could hear over the music Kaito and Kotori-san talking.

"I can still see some light. Should I go make sure everything is okay?" Kaito asked. Shinichi froze slightly.

"It's just the night light, Kaito. His mom told me he used to use it when he was little, and ever since he saw the crime, he's started sleeping with it again," Kotori...no, mom, explained. He looked over at the star-shaped night light plugged into the outlet beside the door with distaste. At least it would keep Kaito from coming in. Even if he pulled up a game, he'd get in trouble for being up past his bedtime, to keep appearances up in front of Kaito. It would be so much easier if he didn't have to keep the charade up even at his new home, but on the other hand he would have had to pretend to be Conan all the time at the Mouri residence, and here, at least, mom knew.

Shinichi flipped through the file after removing the top layer of childish drawings. His father, as usual, was more than thorough. He had been given a list of emails with names and passwords (the names generally implied different personalities) along with what went with each persona. The people each persona kept in contact with, when to use code, which code to use, and so forth, everything was here. And, of course, the entire file had been written in one of his father's codes as well, so that if anyone found it, it would either take them awhile to decipher, or they wouldn't be the sort to bother. It was time to start inquiring into this organization-he was going to find out everything about their way of working, and he was going to use it to bring them down.

Shinichi was in his room looking through his emails after his long day. He'd had to take a placement test, and while the test was beyond simple, trying to figure what to get right, what to get wrong, and how to go about doing it all had been a headache. And the responses he was getting back were not making the headache get any worse. He'd been hoping that this was just a small, limited organization that dealt with blackmailing and those sorts of things. He didn't think it likely, but a guy could hope, right?

Of course, it couldn't be that simple. He'd only had a few clues. They dressed in black. The tall one talked about a poison that "The Organization" had developed. He had their descriptions. These few clues, however, he'd sent out, and had got loads and loads of information back. Luckily, there weren't too many organizations that sent their operatives out dressed in black, since most of them were wise enough to dress in something less conspicuous. However, that still meant there were a few. Only one, though, had operatives that fit the description he'd sent out. Their names were Gin and Vodka, and they belonged to the Black Organization (apparently the higher up didn't have much imagination coming up with names). Apparently all of their members went by alcoholic code names. And, apparently, they also had their fingers in just about every little evil plot imaginable. Smuggling, stealing, mercenaries, bombers, murderers, assassins, blackmailing, if it was a crime, they did it. And they only hired the best, which was why their members could afford to go dressed up so suspiciously, and still not get caught. Almost all of the information about crimes the organization committed was, believed, not proved. The few times the police had arrested an actual member of the organization, the member was killed before they could get any information. And that was if the police had even discovered the crime. The Black Organization, being so select and well trained, had a policy about letting information about theirselves leak to police. Evidence was gotten rid of, period. Only hearsay and circumstantial evidence remained.

Shinichi sighed and let his head fall once, hitting his forehead against the desk. Once he let out that one moment of annoyance, he got to work. He sent out emails, now requesting further information about Gin and Vodka, and any other alcoholic minions, plus their parent organization. Next to do was to start searching through the information. By studying the different cases, he'd find out patterns that the members followed. Their different modes of operation, where they preferred to work, and so on. Everything and anything that could help him find a way to pin them down. Once he got accustomed to their patterns, he'd be able to sort out which cases likely had nothing to do with the Black Organization, which were only possibilities, and which were the ones most likely to have been committed by them.

After all this was done, he'd have a clearer picture of how they worked. He'd probably have to do a map, just to get a visual. Hopefully, the crimes committed would give him an idea of where their headquarters might be, and the ability to see what they might do next, and most importantly, to catch them.

Shinichi was so buried in his work that he barely had any warning before Kaito barged through the door. He only had enough time to bring up Myst, whose screen always covered up any other work he might be doing.

"Hello, Conan! I heard you did really well on your test today!" Kaito said, messing Conan's already disastrously messy hair further.

Conan scowled up at Kaito, putting his hands over his hair protectively as Kaito moved his hands away. "Hey! I spent a lot of time on this!" Conan complained. A lot of time getting it to resemble Kaito's mop. Thank goodness his hair was normally reasonably behaved!

Kaito just grinned further. "My apologies, dear sir! Here is a comb with which to tame the wild beast!" Kaito said with a bow, a comb appearing in his hand (what was Kaito doing with a comb up his sleeve anyways?)

Conan sighed, and simply patted his hair some. If he combed it, it would look neat, and that was something he couldn't do. "It's okay. How was your day at school?"

"It was fine," Kaito said, "You ready to go skateboarding?"

Shinichi blinked. Crap, he'd forgotten about that. He had so much work to do, and... "Maybe some other time?" Conan said, a look of frustration on his face, "I'm working on this puzzle in Myst, and I know if I can just work on it a little longer, I can figure it out!"

Kaito frowned slightly. "Well, that won't do," he said, and leaned over Conan. Shinichi watched with amazement as Kaito started playing around with the puzzle on the screen. It was only partway finished, and Shinichi had left it like that so it would seem that he was in the middle of playing the game, but Kaito was quickly fixing that problem. It wasn't that much longer then the time that Shinichi himself would have figured out the puzzle before Kaito completed it.

"There!" Kaito said, straightening up, "Finished! Now, I must insist that you come outside with me. Staring at a computer screen all day is not good for your eyesight! You'll have to start wearing glasses if you keep doing that!"

Shinichi should have been annoyed at his presumptuousness, but he was impressed with the ease that he finished the problem. It would have taken a bright person maybe an additional ten to fifteen minutes, and an average person longer. Kaito was pretty smart. "Wow, nii-chan, you're really good!" Conan said, his tone showing his admiration.

Kaito blinked, obviously surprised by the compliment (and maybe since it was the first time Conan had called him nii-chan) then grinned. "You hang around with me, kid, and I'll show you how to get things done!"

Shinichi bit his lip. 'Don't say anything, don't say anything!' he chanted in his mind, "He's just pleased by the compliment. Did I ever sound that pompous and annoying? Nah, Ran would have belted me one' He completely ignored the fact that that was WHY she normally wanted to hit him.

"So, skateboarding?" Conan asked, standing up and grabbing his skateboard and helmet, trying not to sound reluctant. He had SO much work to do!

Conan was all suited up. He'd put on his helmet, and from out of whatever pocket he'd been keeping them, Kaito produced a set of elbow and knee guards flourish almost as grandiose as when he'd produced the comb. It was a good day to go skateboarding-the temperature was just perfect for the pants and a t-shirt he was wearing, and the sun was out with nary a cloud in the sky. Conan placed the skateboard on the ground, and looked at it for a minute. Had those silver strips always been there? Oh well, it had been so long he'd probably just forgotten what the skateboard looked like. That one silver strip was a convenient place to put his foot though, so Conan did so. He lifted his other foot to push off, ignoring the slight buzzing he felt, when suddenly the skateboard took off and Conan was barely able to grab on to keep himself from falling off and breaking something. He could hear Kaito's yells behind him but couldn't respond. He needed to stop this thing! He was going at least forty-five to fifty kph on this thing, and steering wasn't that good. He held onto the front of the skateboard and tried to move his body off the silver strip, since that had obviously been what had started the whole thing. No luck.

Conan tried pressing other parts, but nothing happened. He was still going alarmingly fast, and he had no desire to let go and meet the sidewalk, even with protection. He yelled a warning to a group of people ahead of him who looked back, then jumped out of his way before he could crash into them. He then had to avoid a mail box, more people, a lamp post...he cursed the professor under his breath. He did this to his skateboard! And he hadn't even put in brakes or anything! Damn that son of a wrench and a screwdriver!

He spent an undetermined amount of time dodging various objects and people, avoiding any painful collisions. It was hard to concentrate-his eyes had started to feel a bit dry, his fingers were feeling stiff from holding onto the edge of the skateboard so tightly, and his arms were sore. There was a small bridge ahead, maybe about fifteen meters across. The move into the cool darkness was a nice change from the bright sunlight, but most importantly of all...the skateboard was slowing down! It was the lack of sunlight! The damn thing was solar-powered! He should have figured it out sooner, but he had the excuse of being just a bit busy not crashing into anything to really think about how to stop it. He'd just been hoping the darn thing would run out of power. He took the opportunity to jump off, but his legs were so unsteady that he tripped and fell, rolling a little. He blinked, 'cause the skateboard had just reentered the light, and was zooming off again. He should feel more annoyed and worried, since it would probably be causing chaos and destruction, but all he could feel was relief that he was off. He stood up, his entire body feeling wobbly and sore. He had several scratches and cuts, and was probably working on some bruising. It had been slower when he jumped off, but the brief sojourn into the darkness had only slowed it down to maybe thirty kph, so jumping off had still been painful.

Sweet, sweet solid earth. He kept himself steady using the wall of the bridge to keep himself from falling over again, and emerged into the sunlight, blinking slightly. He had no clue where he was. Oh well. Best thing to do was to find a payphone and call home. He should have some change in his pockets.

Unfortunately, this part of town didn't have an overabundance of pay phones, and he had to keep himself from wincing every time he heard the chattering of people exclaiming over the news of a rogue skateboard. He'd gotten rid of his protective gear, not wanting anyone to accost him asking if the skateboard was his (since it was and he really had no way to explain it). The fact that he was covered in scratches and wasn't really feeling that well didn't help at all. And he hated being this age. He wanted his height back, his age back. Young was vulnerable. Young was defenseless.

"Excuse me," said a voice from behind him, "All you all right?"

Oh crap. Please don't let this be some weirdo, 'cause he couldn't do much at this size. He turned around and winced. The teenager was blond, though his features were Japanese. He couldn't tell what color his eyes were, because he was wearing sunglasses. Probably a half and half, though. He wore an old black suit. What kind of guy goes around in an old suit in late spring? Granted, it was a cooler day, but it was still hot. And black? Black wasn't good. Were the sunglasses a disguise? Shinichi did not like this situation.

"I'm fine!" Conan chirped brightly, and started edging away. His stomach twinged, a bruise that had started forming from where he fell making sure he remembered it. His attention momentarily drawn away from the teenager, he held put his hand to his stomach. Ouch. Damn the professor to the lowest pit of hell!

The boy's eyes narrowed. "You should come with me," he said, reaching down and grabbing Conan's other arm, "You're obviously hurt."

"Mom says that I shouldn't go anywhere with strangers! I'm staying right here!" Conan said firmly, digging his heels in. What did this guy think he was, an idiot? He knew a lot better than to go off with anyone he didn't know. Definitely better.

"Your mom has left you alone, hurt. She isn't anyone to be talking about safety precautions," the boy said firmly, "If you come with me, you can take off your shirt and I'll fix you up." He pulled on Conan's hand firmly.

Memories of the last time he'd been around this age, give or take a year, flooded his mind, and blind panic took over. "I'M NOT GOING WITH YOU!" Conan yelled, "AND I'M NOT TAKING OFF MY SHIRT, PERVERT!" He was desperate to say anything to keep himself with going with this guy. Not again. He refused! He struggled against the teen's grip, not noticing the fact that all the attention garnered by his shouting and the struggle was attracting the very attention he needed to keep the guy from acting.

"Hakuba," Kaito drawled, "I do hope you're not molesting my brother here."

End

I can't believe I did that to Hakuba! I'd feel guilty about it, but the idea of Hakuba getting called a pervert was too fun to pass up! And again, any references to what happened to Shinichi when he was younger, or any proficiencies that aren't exactly canon will most likely be explained in detail in _Truth Will Prevail_. I'm not doing this to be difficult, but it's not time for Shinichi to be explaining exactly what happened when he was younger in this story yet. I will explain later, I promise.

Anyone whose review I didn't answer, I didn't have time to always answer reviews as soon as I read them, and then I forgot whether I replied or not. If I didn't answer you, I'm sorry, I'm a bit of an idiot, and if you let me know, I'll be sure to answer any questions you had.

I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone for their reviews and support! The next chapter will hopefully be out soon, and hopefully it won't take as much time to type up as this one. This one just didn't want to cooperate with me, stupid thing. Hoping to post again quickly,

FL

PS I looked it up, and 50 kilometers per hour is about 31 miles per hour, and 30 kilometers is about 18.6 miles per hour.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I've already said I don't own Detective Conan, but since I need to for this chapter, I also do not own Laurie R. King's works.

**Choices**

_Chapter Four_

Kaito would have liked to look at Hakuba's face, twisted with so many different emotions it was delightful, but Conan was apparently having a panic attack. He knelt by Conan and gingerly touched Conan's shoulder as Conan gasped for breath, shaking like a leaf. Conan jumped as soon as he felt the pressure and was facing Kaito, his eyes wide, his expression showing only panic, not recognition.

Kaito felt a bit at a loss. This wasn't something that could be fixed by a trick or a joke. Something had happened to Conan, much more serious then his mother had told him, and Conan still wasn't over it. He was only a kid for goodness sake! Who'd…?

Conan was still panicking, and Kaito didn't have time for brooding. "Conan, it's okay. Nothing's going to hurt you. Hakuba's an idiot, but he wouldn't actually do something to hurt you." Kaito's voice was low and calm as he crouched down in front of Conan.

"Not again," Conan whispered, begged quietly, "Please, not again."

Kaito wished there was something he could do more concrete then just talking, but he couldn't think of anything else to do. "I won't let it happen, Conan," he promised, and knew he was speaking the truth, "You're going to be okay."

Conan's head fell slightly, and Kaito couldn't see the expression on his face. He could, however, see Conan's hands form fists at his sides. Kaito hoped that that meant he was coming back to himself. His eyes flicked up to see Hakuba staring at them thoughtfully, his earlier consternation gone. Kaito scowled at him, and focused his attention back on Conan. "You okay?" Kaito asked.

Conan didn't look up. "I'm…I'm okay," he said quietly. His voice trembled slightly and Kaito had to suppress a grimace. Kaito reached out a hand once more and touched Conan's shoulder. He felt a slight shudder, but didn't let go. Kaito stood up. He decided to give both Conan and himself a chance to recover.

"Hakuba, you REALLY need to work on your sensitivity," Kaito said. Abusing Hakuba was always something that cheered Kaito up.

"I was just trying to help," Hakuba said slightly defensively, "he was obviously injured. What happened to him? Why…"

Kaito grimaced. Hakuba was just the king of tact today. "You'd think being a brilliant detective and all; you'd be able to figure things out!" Kaito bit off, annoyed.

"My deduction was that he was being abused and had been abandoned-since you're claiming that you're his brother, I'm hoping that was wrong!" Hakuba retorted.

"He's my half-brother," Conan said quietly, "We…he…just found out a few days ago. My…my mom's dead. I was living with my aunt, but she's dead now too. I'm living with Kaito-nii-chan now." He never looked up.

Kaito stared down slightly at Conan. He sounded rather convincing, though it helped that he sounded a bit trembly still because of his panic attack. Kaito looked back up, and Hakuba was staring at him, obviously surprised. Kaito shrugged, his cheeks flaring slightly red. "One of dad's admirers got the idea into her head that if she could get dad to, um, spend some time with her, he'd fall madly in love. She slipped him something." He saw understanding flood Hakuba's face, and was torn between relief that Hakuba's suspicious mind bought the story, and hatred of the fact that the lie had to be told, "Conan's staying with us now," Kaito added, putting a slightly defensive tone in his voice. He wanted Hakuba to back off.

Hakuba seemed to get the message. He nodded, gave Kaito a looked that all but said, "We're talking later," and left. Kaito looked down at Conan, who was still staring down at the ground.

"You really scared me," Kaito admitted, "What was up with that skateboard?"

Conan shrugged slightly. "They got it at a thrift store. I don't know what happened. All I could do was hang on. It slowed down when it went under an overpass and I was able to jump off. I think it was solar powered."

"That makes sense. What kind of idiot gives that sort of thing away though? It was dangerous!" Kaito said, "It needs brakes, for one!" Actually, he really wanted to play around with the idea now. It had potential. Imagine, a solar powered skateboard! Too bad the skateboard was gone now.

"Yeah, well…" Conan trailed off, his voice slightly bitter. He didn't say anything, and Kaito wondered what he was thinking.

"Conan?" Kaito asked, slightly hesitant about asking the question, but needing to know, "What happened, back there?"

Conan froze besides him, but shook it off and kept moving. "The guys I saw murder someone? They had me a few days."

"Bastards," Kaito said fervently. He wished Conan trusted him enough to tell him everything, but then again, he wouldn't want to in his place.

"Yeah," Conan said.

They kept walking, each in their own thoughts. Kaito, suddenly remembering Conan's injuries from falling off the skateboard, asked, "How are your scrapes? Did you get too hurt?"

"Um, they're okay," Conan said.

"Let me look," Kaito ordered. Conan turned and faced him, eyes slightly reserved as they looked into his. Kaito, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the gaze, started inventorying the injuries rather then keeping his eyes locked with the boys. Several scratches, though they'd mostly stopped bleeding, and some bruises that promised to be spectacular, especially the one on the stomach that Kaito had had to have Conan pull up his shirt to show him.

"You should probably have a bath when we get back home," Kaito said, "Maybe mom will put some Epsom salt in. That will help the bruises, and probably the scratches too. No wonder Hakuba thought something had happened."

Conan shrugged slightly, and they continued to walk. "Did you say Hakuba was a detective?"

Kaito scowled slightly. "Yeah. He mostly works with the police on the Kaitou Kid case. You'd think he had nothing better to do."

"It's probably fun to chase Kaitou Kid. A challenge," Conan said, "Wouldn't you like to do that?"

"I should think things like murder cases took priority. I mean, it's a great show, and lots of fun for everyone, but Kaitou Kid isn't that much of a threat. He just about always returns the jewels. Meanwhile there are murderers and crooks, dangerous crooks, getting away with things. I'm starting to wonder why they spend so much time on him, when they should be spending more time on people like the ones who got you," Kaito said, his voice slightly bitter.

"Kaitou Kid makes a fool of them. Nobody likes to be embarrassed, especially so publicly," Conan said.

"But they're devoting time and manpower to something that isn't as important. Don't you want those guys caught?" Kaito asked.

"Of course!" Conan said, "I'm just saying that the police committed themselves in the beginning to catching Kaitou Kid, and now they can't stop, because it will seem like they're incompetent."

"Kaitou Kid's too good to do otherwise," Kaito said, smiling slightly, "It's not his fault the police can't catch him."

"You a Kaitou Kid fan?" Conan asked, looking up at him, his tone slightly disapproving.

"Well, he's a master of his art, and it's not like he's doing any harm," Kaito said defensively.

"Just diverting police resources?" Conan said, a slight grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"It's not his fault that the police make such a fuss!" Kaito protested.

"He's the one who sends out the warnings. The police wouldn't even know what he was doing until afterwards if he didn't do so," Conan said.

Kaito sighed. It had started out as a game. A fun game for when he was younger, and didn't know any better. Then he'd found out about his dad, and he'd needed to draw attention to the thefts, to keep the murdering bastards eyes on him. He couldn't' exactly explain that though. Maybe a sort of half-truth. "He needs an audience. Every good magician works best with an audience. I guess he's giving the owner fair warning as well. A challenge, if you will." And it was, though not exactly always to the police anymore.

"You know a lot about Kaitou Kid?" Conan asked.

Kaito coughed. "Well, my best friend's dad is head of the Kaitou Kid taskforce. I hear things."

"Oh," Conan said.

"You know, I guess one of the things that really bothers me most about Hakuba is that he's really good at what he does. He could probably solve half the outstanding cases the police need solved, important ones. And yet he devotes all of his time to the Kaitou Kid chase. It is one thing to have the common police officers out after Kid, but Hakuba should be devoting his time to things that really matter, like that Hattori kid and the Kudo kid do. Of course, the Kudo one's gone missing now, and I really hope they find him, but the important thing about them is that they spend their time on the cases that really matter. Like yours," Kaito said. Kaito really believed this. He enjoyed the challenge of going up against Hakuba. Sometimes it made things a pain in the butt, but it was fun. And as much as Kaito wanted to burn the men who killed his dad, in the greater scale of things, Hakuba was needed in other places, but Hakuba was so obsessed with proving that Kaito was Kaitou Kid that he neglected other things.

Conan shrugged. "I'm sure he spends some time working on other cases. He can't concentrate solely on the Kid case."

"Most of it," Kaito grumbled, "And you have no idea how obsessed Hakuba can get. He likes going around dressed like Sherlock Holmes, and he named his pet, FEMALE hawk Watson. Okay, Holmes was a brilliant detective, but seriously!"

Conan stared up at him. "He goes around dressed like Sherlock Holmes?"

"Sometimes. Too often. He looks ridiculous," Kaito grumbled.

"I wonder where he got the clothes…" Conan said speculatively.

"NO!" Kaito yelped, "I refuse to let my little brother parade around looking that ridiculous! Promise you won't ask him!"

Conan laughed. "I was kidding!"

"Good!" Kaito said, relieved.

"He really named his hawk Watson?" Conan asked.

"Yeah. I could get it if it was a guy, but it's a girl! Couldn't he have at least used a girl's name?" Kaito said plaintively.

"Well," Conan mused, "There weren't many strong women characters in Doyle's works. Irene Adler, but that name wouldn't really be the best name for someone you wanted to be a companion, since she was the bad person in Holmes' case. Maybe Mary, or Russell, from Laurie R. King's adaptation of Sherlock Holmes."

"Russell's a guy's name too," Kaito complained.

"The female character in that particular series was named Mary Russell. Holmes often called her Russell instead of Mary though," Conan explained.

"Well, there you go!" Kaito said.

"He could be a purist, and doesn't accept any other authors' adaptations, which would limit the possibilities. Normally I'd agree, but King did a rather excellent job," Conan said.

Silence fell again, until Conan asked, "Why do you think Kaitou Kid does it? He's looking for something and his object isn't money. You're a fan, what do you think his motivations are?"

"Maybe he just likes playing to the audience?" Kaito suggested. Conan was pretty observant. Hakuba hadn't ever even thought to ask that before. Maybe he was waiting until he had cuffs around Kaito's hands (like he couldn't get out of cuffs in an instant, though Hakuba would have to catch him first!) to ask that question, after all, that was his trademark. Kinda odd though, wasn't he as the detective supposed to have pretty much figured that all out?

"No. It's more then that. It's some sort of jewel. I wonder if he's working for someone. It doesn't make much sense, though. If he was looking for a particular jewel, you'd think he'd have a better description. It couldn't be for a monetary reason-with all the jewels he's stolen he could have sold them for a bundle, more then any one jewel could be worth, and yet he keeps sending them back. And he doesn't have to limit himself to just jewels, there are other lucrative things. And it wouldn't make sense for it to be sentimental value, 'cause you'd think if it was for that reason he'd know what he was looking for," Conan seemed to be thinking aloud, and Kaito couldn't help but listen, unable to interrupt. Conan was doing well. Really well.

"You planning on being a detective, because you sound like you'd be pretty good at it," Kaito said, half laughing, half nervous. If Conan was this sharp, he'd have a harder time slipping things by him. At least he spent a lot of time holed up at his computer, and wasn't as prone to following Kaito around like some kids his age would be.

Conan seemed slightly shocked then embarrassed. "I guess," he said. The walk the rest of the way home went quietly.

By the time Shinichi had gotten his bath and was safely ensconced back in his bedroom, he had almost finally stopped being angry at himself. Despite the size difference, he'd forgotten that he wasn't talking to Kaito as an equal, but as a younger person. He needed to better, if he wanted to pull this off.

Not only that, but that incident with Hakuba…Shinichi shivered slightly. He shouldn't have reacted like that. He'd thought he'd gotten past that, damn it! He was a great detective, and, despite slight misgivings, had become a regular sharpshooter with a gun. He hadn't really wanted to, in the beginning, but Ran was taking karate, and he couldn't, not with his arm, and his father told him that if he wanted to become a detective, he needed some way to defend himself. He preferred using his soccer skills, but the skills to use a gun were there, if needed.

However, now that he was back to shrimp size, he was feeling decidedly vulnerable again. He could kick, but not half as strong as when he was bigger, and he didn't think he could go walking around with a gun. Might look a tad suspicious.

He hated this. He'd spent so much effort, learning to become strong, and even after all that, he was right back in the position he'd been in to begin with. He'd finally begun to feel comfortable, confident, and as soon as he did, he screwed up and got shrunk.

It had been profoundly embarrassing to have an incident in front of Kaito and Hakuba, right in public. He hadn't really had one in ages. He'd frozen a couple of times, when threatened, but had been able to move past it. It was being in the same size body as when it happened that prompted it. He'd just have to make sure it didn't happen again, but it would help even more if he was his old size again.

Shinichi sat down in front of his computer, and got back to work. He'd gotten a few emails, with extra information, as well as a request for aid. His dad traded favors figuring out cases for some of his sources that were policemen, and now it was his turn. Apparently, his teenage counterpart in Osaka was away investigating something, leaving the police in Osaka no where to really turn. The guy asking for help didn't seem too confident, since he was the new guy supposedly taking over from his father (not that the guy knew that) and since he would only be able to review the information provided in the case file, but had figured it wouldn't hurt.

Solving a case might lift his spirits some, Shinichi decided, and it would be fun to get a one up on Hattori. He'd never meet the guy, but he was compared to him often, being the other brilliant teenage detective in the public eye, and the chance to solve one of his cases when he was away was too good a chance to pass up, even if Hattori wouldn't know who did it. He opened the attachment, with the related data, and got to work.

He'd had to pause for dinner, and then Kaito had wanted to finish their chess game, but other then that he'd spent his free time working on the puzzle. He'd begged off a second game of chess, pleading exhaustion from the day's events (he was tired, but he never slept much anyways) and had went immediately to "bed." It was about 12:43 in the morning, but the case was solved. He sent a reply to the email address; case solved, and leaned back in his chair, smiling triumphantly. It would have gone a lot quicker if he was there, and able to look through the clues and everything himself, but he'd managed it even with only the facts the police had dug up (though they hadn't noticed all of them.) Eat that, Hattori. Despite all of the bad things that happened that day, this was a decidedly a good way to end the day (relatively speaking, since it was now the next day.)

He was so pleased he went to bed early, and managed to sleep for four straight hours. Pretty good record for him.

Heiji was not having a good day. He'd awakened still pleased that he'd figured out what was happening with Kudo, but it had all gone down hill from there. He'd had to get up early to get onto the four o'clock train. The hotel didn't have breakfast available at that time, so he had had to skip breakfast (his favorite meal of the day!) Then he got to the train station, and the train was delayed! He hadn't really brought any books or anything with him, so he was stuck laying along a bench and staring at the ceiling. He fell asleep, and was awakened by someone tripping and spilling their very hot coffee all over him, before the aforementioned guilty party rushed off.

So he'd had to go into the train station bathroom (a very disturbing place, with an even more disturbing and sickening smell) and dig through his clothes for a clean set of clothing. He'd found one, but it was not something he'd liked wearing. His dad must have snuck it in as a joke. It was one of those "I'm with stupid" shirts, but the arrow was pointing up, not to the side. His jeans were too small. His hair wasn't cooperating. He had found his phone (which had been lost for a few days) and had had to listen to his messages. Kazuha was annoyed at him for leaving her with no warning, which meant he'd have to deal with her yelling at him. She got even madder when Heiji didn't reply. His father wasn't too pleased either. Just because he'd rushed off, and dropped everything to see if he could help on the Kudo case (it was important to get there before clues went cold, his father should know that!) his father was having a hissy fit. And then there were messages requesting his aid on a murder case. He needed to get home NOW to solve that.

That meant, of course, that when he came out, he found out he'd slept through his train's arrival by a few hours. The next train scheduled for Osaka didn't leave until two. After an extended amount of wheedling with ticket woman, he'd managed to get her to exchange his ticket for the train he'd missed for the train expected to arrive. Once that was finished, he headed out for food. He was hungry.

He went to a restaurant, ordered food, and when he went to the cash register, discovered that while he'd finally found his phone (he was never putting it on silent again!) he'd lost his wallet. He'd had to leave, unfed, and go back to the train station and search for his wallet. He found it, but by the time he had, it was missing all of his cash and cards. It had been in a trash bin. So he'd had to call and cancel all of his cards, while waiting for the train (which was late!) and while desperately hungry.

When he'd finally gotten onto the train (at 3:25!) and had finally got on his way home, the train had stopped midway, because some idiot had let a herd of cows get loose, and they all decided to stand on the train rails.

So they'd had to wait until the cows had been moved.

When he finally got home, it was 8:13 pm, he hadn't had anything to eat, and he was exhausted. However, knowing his duty, he'd headed to the police station, to solve this case that was apparently so impossible to solve without him (this fact would normally please him, but he was tired! Couldn't the police handle this ONE case on their own?) And then he found out that someone HAD solved the case. Without him. Someone had consulted some person from who knows where, and this person had solved the case without even getting a first hand look at the evidence!

The case had been tricky-it would have taken him a little while to solve the case while looking at the scene and the gathered evidence. And now some jerk comes along, and solves HIS case from HIS town without even being HERE! He'd worked hard to get people to listen to him, especially since his dad could be a bit of a pain, and now someone just waltzes in and takes over for him.

He'd stormed home, hoping for a home cooked meal and a sympathetic ear. He should have known better. All he had left where cold leftovers, his father saying it was his own fault for not being there to solve the case, and Kazuha coming over to yell at him for not calling her.

As he lay, steaming angry glaring at the ceiling, now unable to fall asleep as he brooded over the day's bad events, he decided there was only one thing to do. He was going to find that jerk, and show the person who was really the better detective.

And while Heiji Hattori had been having a really bad day, thinking about the challenge it would be to find the guy cheered him up a little. At least until it started raining, and he discovered that his bed was right under a rather large leak in the roof (his room was in the attic).

Heiji Hattori was having a REALLY bad day.

End Chapter Four

I don't know WHAT made me decide to torture Heiji. I guess the evil part of me made me do it. v It was fun though!

I don't care what any Conan Doyle purists say, Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series rocks. Any of you who enjoy a good mystery, and would prefer to read from the point of view of an intelligent human being, rather then Watson's sweet but dense character, I highly recommend her series. I grew to like Sherlock Holmes more through King's work then I did through Doyle's.

Again, for those of you who are confused about Shinichi's reactions, you'll either have to wait for me to explain it further into the story, or read _Truth Will Prevail_. My apologies, but I really like the background I have worked out in _Truth_ _Will Prevail_, and will be sticking to it.

I would like to say thank you to all of the reviewers-you gave me the motivation to sit down as soon as I had some free time, and write this chapter. If you have any questions, review and I'll do my best to answer them. I hope you've enjoyed!


	5. Chapter 5

Quick note to my readers: I STALEMATED MY DAD IN CHESS! Hah! First time in twenty years! AND I had a fourteen point advantage!...

Yes, not really relevant to the story, but...it does prove I'm not completely incompetent in chess and do have enough back ground to write about Conan and Kaito playing chess. They'd probably kill me within the first five minutes, (hypothetically speaking, of course!) but I do know something!

Note about Japanese school system. From what I understand, Japanese students go to school Monday-Friday full time, and Saturday is a half day. So yesterday was a Saturday, and today is a Sunday, so they have the day off.

All right, we can finally start the chapter!

Warning: This chapter is pretty much Conan/Kaito brotherly bonding time. Not much plot at all.

**Choices**

_Chapter 5_

Shinichi woke early, partially because he was used to waking up early, and partially because his body ached. He didn't want to move yet, and his thoughts drifted, as they often did, towards Ran. It had killed him to see her going so frantic over his disappearance, but at least he could comfort her some as Conan. Now he didn't even know how she was doing. For the millionth time he wondered if he should find some way of letting her know he was all right. Maybe not tell her everything (after all, he was a lot more defenseless as Conan, and he couldn't run away fast enough when Ran found out that he had been Conan and hadn't told her anything. He was planning on being in a foreign country when that happened-somewhere FAR away and inaccessible-possibly the Bermuda triangle would be safe enough...) but tell her the truth that something happened, his enemies thought he was dead, and that was how it had to stay.

If he thought he could get away with it, he would get up and write her right now. They had their own code, actually, one even his father hadn't even been able to decipher (actually, he'd never figured out it was a code in the first place!) so he knew he could communicate with her safely. However, the instant she got any information, she'd demand more, and if he didn't tell her, she'd start hunting on her own, and she'd draw attention, figure too much out, and then likely get killed. Karate was all well and good, but when going up against an organization as well organized and as ruthless as the one he'd made enemies off, karate didn't do much good against a sniper bullet through the heart. At least he was out of the line of fire-it would be a long time before anyone figured out that Kuroba Conan was Kudo Shinichi. Also, if he did any investigating, a kid poking around would be less suspicious. Besides, he at least knew how to use a gun. He didn't like too, but he could if he needed.

He knew all these things. He also knew that when she found out the truth, hopefully after all was said and done, he'd be in major trouble with her. At least she'd be safe, though he wouldn't be. Karate might not be the best defense against evil crime organizations, but it was death on the friends who weren't in her favor. Even Sonoko got nervous when Ran was angry.

Conan sighed and got out of bed. Mom was in the shower, with a little stuffed fish hanging on the outside door knob. Kotori had a stuffed fish for when she was in, Conan had been given an owl (Kotori had smiled when she'd seen his incredulous look), and Kaito had a fox. An odd method, but definitely effective. When Conan reached the kitchen, Kaito was there, making a mess of cooking breakfast. Conan stood there, amusement flitting across his face as he watched eggs and bacon burn, grits boil over, and Kaito apparently having a heart attack as he tried to fix everything.

Conan couldn't take it, he started laughing. Kaito turned and glared, Conan setting back slightly with his hands held up in front of him in defense. "Ignore me-I'm going to pretend that I didn't just see you run a simple Western breakfast. I'm just going to turn around and go back to bed for awhile."

Conan turned, and was about to do just that when Kaito spoke. "Take one more step and know the wrath of a master magician."

Conan did stop. Just because "magic" wasn't real didn't mean it wasn't an effective tool for causing mass mayhem and destruction. He turned back around and smiled as charmingly as he could (considering his mother, this was a disarming tactic) "Yes, nii-chan?"

Unfortunately for him, Kaito was too annoyed to really get the full effect of the Yukiko&Son Heartbreaker Grin. "Simple, huh? You tell me how I could do a better job. These things have a mind of their own, I swear! They're out to get me!" Kaito said, glaring around at the mess.

Conan rolled his eyes. "It's just eggs, bacon, and grits."

"I'd like to see you do better!" Kaito said with his arms crossed.

"I'm sure Mom would be interested to see what happened to her kitchen while she was taking a shower," Conan said, his smile becoming slightly sinister.

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare."

Conan's slightly evil look was suddenly replaced by an all too innocent and child-like smile. "You owe me one, nii-chan! Can you at least be trusted to clean up dishes? I'll cook!"

Kaito grunted, and started disposing of the evidence as Conan hunted for replacement ingredients and cooking implements. "First off," Conan lectured, "You need to start off with the bacon. By cooking the bacon first, you can cook the eggs in the grease later with adds a nice flavor. Next, you put some water in a pan for the grits, and let it boil. While the water is warming up, you check the bacon, and see if it needs to be turned. You can do this with a fork. Then you go and get a plate for the bacon, because while it's not ready yet, you'll need to have it ready for when you do need it. Then, you put the appropriate amount of grits in. You obviously put too many grits and too much water, that's why it boiled over. At least this wasn't rice, because rice expands even more then grits do. Now that they're set to cooking, the bacon's done. Take it off, and crack the eggs in. Are scrambled eggs all right?" Conan asked.

Kaito, watching with blank amazement as Conan, A KID! mastered the ingredients with such ease and in fact LECTURED while doing so, nodded, eyes wide.

"Good," Conan said, "Now, it's better not to use a fork with eggs, because a fork with scratch the pan. A spatula is much better for this part. Could you get some bowls out? Thank you. Now, here are the grits, if you'll take them over to the table, and now the eggs are done, and everything's ready. And here's mom!"

Kotori laughed at the blank astonishment on Kaito's face. "Good job, Conan! Kaito sometimes tries to make breakfast sometimes on Sunday, when I'm taking my shower, and he always messes it up. At least my kitchen's always clean by the time I'm out. I don't say anything because I appreciate the effort, and because Kaito always leaves the kitchen cleaner then when he started."

Kaito's eyes widened slightly as he figured something out. "You've been using me to give your kitchen a good cleaning every week!"

Kotori giggled. "Would I do something like that to you, dearest boy?"

"You're evil. You're both evil," Kaito declared, his voice flat and factual.

"What did I do?" Conan protested.

"You are obviously in cahoots with the food. It never cooperates with me!" Kaito said.

"If you just followed my instructions, I'm sure it would all fine. Food is not alive, and it does not conspire against you," Conan retorted.

"Humph." Kaito was not convinced, but he was determined to try again, when he KNEW no one was watching. He refused to let a few paltry chicken eggs, of all things, defeat the great Kaitou Kid!

To add insult to injury, the meal, while simple, was well cooked. Kaito sulked quietly as Conan and Kotori chatted a bit about their own cooking experiences. It cheered him up a bit to hear their mistakes, and he didn't feel quite so jealous of Conan for making breakfast for his mom, which he'd been trying to do, off and on, for years.

"So, Conan, what are you planning on doing today?" Kaito asked. He needed to do some research on the different jewels that were currently being shown in this area. You'd think people would decide, "Hey, most of the jewels are being stolen in this area of Japan, we better not go there," but apparently the notoriety of THE Kaitou Kid stealing THEIR jewel was something many people craved, along with the publicity. The amount of showings had actually increased since he started borrowing 

jewels, something that was quite convenient for him. Why go looking for jewels when so many people were willing to bring them to him? On the other hand, all work and no play makes Kaitou Kid, well...not Kaitou Kid. Besides, Conan needed to get away from the computer and have some fun.

Conan's eyes flickered briefly to his mom's, and then back to Kaito. "I really hadn't planned anything."

Kaito rolled his eyes. "You're a kid, you know! You need to get out more. Play a nice game of soccer or something."

Conan winced slightly. "Soccer? I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? You can't tell me you've never played before!" Kaito said.

Conan shrugged. "Not really my thing."

Kaito heaved a sigh. "I'll think of something, so you don't make any plans, all right? No playing computer games today for you."

Conan made a face and stuck out his tongue. Kaito laughed and started clearing the dishes.

Kotori followed Kaito into the kitchen. "Kaito, whatever you do today, go easy on him, okay? I think he's still a bit sore from that fall he took yesterday."

"Crap! I forgot about that. Do you have any ideas?" Kaito asked, "What kind of things can you do with a kid?"

"You've done little shows for kids before," Kotori said, mocking his dilemma. Mothers could be so mean.

"It's not the same thing!" Kaito protested.

"Why don't you go introduce him to Aoko-if you don't, she'll get mad when she finds out everything happened and you haven't told her yet." Kotori took the dishes he still had, and made shooing motions.

Kaito, upon careful consideration, decided that that was a good point, and was half way up to him room to change when inspiration hit. His eyes practically sparkled, and he ran up the rest of the stairs to make plans.

* * *

"Hey, Aoko, I have something to talk to you about. Can you come over? Twenty-five minutes? That's fine! Could you wear those panties with the black lace?" Kaito's grin was slightly goofy as Aoko swore loudly and slammed down the phone. That would get her here a few minutes earlier.

"All right, Conan, you understand the plan?" Kaito asked.

Conan, who had been listening to the conversation with a great deal of interest, shrugged. "Understand? It's relatively simple. Besides, if she gets angry, it's not me who's going to get in trouble."

Kaito loftily ignored the last remark. "All right then, in position!"

Kaito was almost sitting on the fence as Aoko came up, broom leaning against her shoulder. He grinned slightly. "Hey Aoko! How are you this wonderful morning?!"

"Great, except for the fact that my best friend is a pervert. What did you want to tell me?" Aoko said, her grip on the broom tightening slightly.

Kaito grinned, swooped down and lifted her skirt. "Wow, Aoko! New panties! I like these even more than the ones with black lace!"

Predictably, to those who have seen this odd phenomenon before, Aoko's face turned cherry red, and as soon as she could gather brain working again the chase was on. Conan watched with amazement as Kaito leapt, ducked, swerved, dove, rolled, and almost danced around the yard, Aoko keeping in step right behind him. Finally Kaito was nearing the bush where he hid, and allowed himself to be hit in the head with the broom.

Conan had already thrown out the smoke bomb as Kaito yelled, "Ouch, Aoko, that..." his voice changing slightly as he dove for the bush where Conan had been hiding as Conan quickly, in clothes that were identical to Kaito's, took his place and finished, "really hurt! Wow, Aoko, you look really big from here! Wait, what happened! Everything's so big! You shrunk me, Aoko!"

Aoko's eyes were wide as she stepped back. "This...this isn't another of your tricks, is it? Kaito?"

Conan folded his arms. "I'm a great magician, but how could I shrink myself? That must be a witch's broom! Did you steal Akiko's broom?"

"Of course not! I swear, I didn't mean too! I'm so sorry! Maybe if I hit you again?" Aoko said, and proceeded to do that with more force then was absolutely necessary. Luckily, it was with the bristles end, so it didn't hurt too much. Again, smoke appeared and Conan and Kaito once more switched places.

"Where did you get that broom, Aoko? I want one!" Kaito declared.

Aoko hugged the broom to herself slightly. "I just got it at the grocery store last week! It was on sale! There aren't any left!"

"Can I have that one? Please?" Kaito asked, begging.

"No! It's mine! Get back, get away!" Lo and behold, another puff of smoke.

"Not again!" Conan complained, "Stop doing that! I need that broom if only to keep you from shrinking the entire world! Give it!"

"I will not!" Aoko insisted.

"The first time you lose your temper, poof! Instant chibi! The whole classroom!" Conan declared. It was only his mother's training that was helping him keep a straight face. He had no idea how Kaito was managing it in the bushes. He'd been a bit leery of the whole thing, but on the other hand...he kept imagining Aoko as Ran...they even looked a bit similar...

"Actually..." Conan pretended to muse, "That wouldn't be so bad. Chibi Hakuba, chibi Akiko, chibi teachers...you can keep the broom, Aoko, this is going to be a great trick!" He imagined he could hear a muffled snort from the bushes. Okay, he was ad-libbing a bit, but all in a good cause, right?

"I...I won't do that!" Aoko promised, though her voice sounded a bit feeble.

"You won't mean to do it, you mean. I'm still a chibi, you know!" Conan reminded her.

"Oh...right! Yes! Of course!" Aoko, flustered, "transformed" "chibi" Kaito back to full-size Kaito. "How about we give you something else, all right? A nice mop, your usual weapon!" In a flash of light, Kaito produced a mop, "Now, just set the broom down nice 'n easy, 'kay? Good, now here's the mop."

"Thanks," Aoko said weakly.

"Don't mention it! Now, about those new panties..."

Whap.

Puff of smoke.

Chibi-Kaito.

Aoko and Conan stared at the mop. "But...but..." Aoko mumbled, "It's not the broom. I put it down!"

"It must be a power! Strange, granted, but...Aoko, imagine the possibilities! All the people in class you could shrink!" Conan said, pretending to be excited.

"No! No, I'm not going to use this power anymore!" Aoko declared, throwing the mop away from her.

"Ah, Aoko, you're no fun! Er...could you at least turn me back to full-size before swearing such a promise?" Conan asked.

"Oh, right!" Aoko said, and grabbed the mop, bopped Conan, and got a full-size Kaito. "Now! I do solemnly swear on my ancestors, the proud Nakamori, that never again shall I use the power!"

"Er...Aoko...don't you think you're being over dramatic?" Kaito asked, rubbing his head.

"Well, yes...maybe...but who are you to talk, Mr. Stage Magician?" Aoko asked.

"Never mind me. So, you feeling okay?" Kaito asked.

"Fine, I guess. It's just...weird, you know? Anyways, let's talk about something more pleasant. What did you want to talk to me about?" Aoko asked, shaking her head slightly.

"You know? I've quite forgotten what it was," Kaito said. He wanted to see how long it would take Aoko to lose her temper. All in the name of experimentation and science, of course. It might hurt, when she found out everything, but meanwhile...

* * *

After talking for a few minutes, Aoko left, still slightly disturbed but convinced that hitting people with a broom or a mop was not the way to go anymore. As soon as she was gone, Conan snuck back into the house, Kaito following at a more leisurely face.

"Conan," Kaito said as he leaned back into the sofa, "You were brilliant! Absolutely inspired! I didn't think you'd be able to pull it off for as long as you did! Great poker face!"

"Poker? What's that?" Conan asked, feigning indifference.

"You don't know how the play poker?! All right, just let me get some cards and I'll show you how to play!" Kaito said enthusiastically. Conan allowed himself a small smirk while Kaito was rustling around for cards.

Conan listened patiently as Kaito explained the rules, nodding with child-like excitement. Soon, they started to play. Conan didn't win right off. They weren't betting money, so Conan didn't mind "loosing" a few rounds. He established a pattern of tells, while trying to learn Kaito's. Kaito started pointing out some of his "tells" and Conan duly stopped doing them. Conan slowly started to improve but kept loosing enough games to not seem suspicious. He would slowly lull Kaito into a sense of security, and then, when needed and real stakes where on the line-wham! Conan would win the pot. For now, it was fun simply playing and plotting.

After an hour or so of poker, Kaito and Conan went on to play chess (which Kaito eventually won) after which Conan decided to hold a cooking lesson for Kaito to make lunch. That went relatively peacefully, though Kaito kept glaring at certain foods with suspicion on occasion. Then Kaito taught Conan a few magic tricks, which Conan had already known how they were accomplished, but knowing and practice where two different things. It seemed to take forever to master one of the simplest tricks for sleight of hand-pulling a coin out of a person's ear. He also learned a few card tricks-pretty easy to figure out by people like Kaito and Conan, but a bit harder for others.

Taking a break after the successful performance of several card tricks, Conan suggested going outside and enjoying the sun for a little, but Kaito disagreed because of the off-chance Aoko might spot them, and he wanted to keep the trick going as long as possible.

"After all," Kaito said, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's unbelievable that we look so similar-if you were my age we'd practically be twins." Kaito got a dreamy look on his face… "An identical twin…oh, what I wouldn't do for such a thing. The tricks I could play!"

Shinichi privately agreed-he'd love to be Kaito's age himself, seeing as that was how old he was SUPPOSED to be.

"Well, you're not, but I can try and make sure people feel like they're having flash-backs when you get to my age! The legend of Kuroba Kaito shall not die!" Kaito said, punching upwards.

"What about Kudo? You said he was a cool detective-maybe I can be like him!" Conan couldn't help it- the self-love fest was getting a bit ridiculous. He really hoped he'd never been that full of himself, though Ran would probably say that he was.

Kaito appeared to consider this. "Well-since it's Kudo, a detective that actually does work, I suppose I might allow you to do so."

"My thanks, oh noble sir! Thy blessing is all thy humble servant seeks in life!" Conan said, bowing with a flourish.

"Keep up that attitude, and you'll never have to worry about being pranked," Kaito said, ruffling Conan's hair. Kaito was possibly in love. Conan had poker face (well, when he wasn't playing poker anyways) he knew how to goof off, he was good at mimicking, he didn't mind playing a prank on Aoko, he was smart-he was mini-Kaito! "Stick with me, kiddo, and I'll teach you everything I know."

Conan folded his arms. "I'm not becoming a pervert like you."

Kaito almost fell over, a pained expression on his face. "Pervert? Me? Never! How dare you suggest such a thing?!"

"What do you call looking up Aoko's skirt-something that happens on an apparently regular basis. You want to keep the prank going so you can peek for awhile without getting hit. You know it's just going to be worse when she finds out," Conan said wisely.

"Humph. You're too young to understand," Kaito said in an injured tone of voice.

"I hope I'm never that old," Conan retorted.

"You young whippersnappers have no appreciation for your elders now-a-days! I'm going to go somewhere where I will receive the appreciation I deserve!" Kaito said, getting up going up the stairs, grinning as he turned his back on Conan.

"Oh. You're going to the bathroom. Okay," Conan said.

"I do not hear lowly peasants such as yourself," Kaito said loftily as he went up the stairs. He was actually heading for his dove cote, all of whom did appreciate him. "Man, I love that kid," he said to one of his favorites.

End Chapter Five

Like I said, pretty much no plot, other than seeing the two bond. I thought it would be good for Conan to take a break for awhile. It always seemed in the series that he was basically in school or solving mysteries, which he of course enjoys, but variety is the spice of life!

As for Conan agreeing to play a trick on Aoko, Shinichi always seemed a bit mischievous to me. I figured, hanging around with Kaito, this streak would come out more.

Any other questions or thoughts, let me know and I'll get back to you as soon as possible! Hope everyone enjoyed!


	6. Chapter 6

I'm alive! It's a miracle. I'm not going to go into detail, considering that it's complicated, but let's leave it at that my computer has apparently bit the bullet a couple of months ago, and I haven't had access to a computer for quite some time. Now that I do have access, I'm going to do the best I can to get a few chapters out to make up for it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan or Magic Kaitou. I'd never be able to think of enough murder scenes anyways...

**Choices**

_Chapter 6_

Shinichi glared at Conan's pile of homework. He'd wondered why the secretary had looked at him so sympathetically when he was getting his schedule. Since he wasn't coming in at the beginning of the year, he was stuck in the only class that wasn't full. The reason it wasn't full was because everyonewho'd heard ofYakamura-sensi, his new teacher,requestedsomeone else. Yakamura-san received all of the problem students, and with good reason. She ran her classroom like she was running a high security prison. And she really didn't like Conan. When he tried to be polite, she said he was sucking up, that she wasn't some idiot who'd be suckered in, and gave him extra homework as punishment. When he tried to avoid notice, she said he was guilty about something and gave him extra homework for whatever he was guilty about. When he tried to reason with her, she said he was being rude and disrespectful, and...gave him extra homework. It seemed whatever he did, it wasn't right and he was punished. Having almost always been someone almost all teachers liked, it was very annoying, and while the work was simple enough, it still consumed too much time that he'd rather be spending trying to find the Black Organization.

He'd started sorting through the reports of all the different crimes that had been committed, and mapping them out. The ones that he was almost positive that the Black Organization had been behind had a red spot (it was a map on his computer), the ones that he was little less sure about, but still thought there wasa good chance received an orange spot, and the ones that he was the least sure about received a yellow spot. He'd hoped he'd been able to find centers of activities, possible cities in which they might have a base, but it seemed as they must have several, because most major cities in Japan had some level of activity, as well as other major cities around the world.

A couple hours later, Shinichi was getting closed to finished with his work when he noticed that it was past time for Kaito to be done with high school for the day (lucky bastard) and he was curious to see if Kaito had managed to keep his little trick going throughout the day. He closed his books and went down the stairs to wait on the porch.

Kaito was running for his life while cursing Hakuba under his breath. He did appreciate the fact that Hakuba was nice enough to inquire as to Conan's well-being, but did he have to ask about him in front of Aoko? Of course, it was entirely possible that Hakuba was onlybeing nosy, so he really did feel entitled to put the next part of"My Actually Noble Plan to get Hakuba to Relax and Have a Sense of Humor." Other people who were less wise might call it a long list of pranks that Kaito had devised to torture Hakuba, but they didn't appreciate the artistry, the time and effort he'd put into it, solely to re-educate Hakuba in the fine art of having a real personality. It was an act of kindness, truly, and had nothing to do with the fact that Hakuba could be an annoying pain in the ass, because Kaito was noble and could forgive lesser being's mistakes.

Such as the fact that Aoko had just thrown a rock bigger then his fist at his head. After all, she'd been raised by her father, and they both have temper control problems. He dodged to the side and continued to run. Aoko was really mad. She generally calmed down a bit after hitting him in the head with something, but he sensed (being a sensitive person) that not only was that a bit of a sore subject with Aoko at the moment, but that Aoko would need to get several good hits in before she calmed down, and Kaito wasn't really inclined to be hit that many times. If he could get home, maybe he could go into his father's secret room, and then Aoko wouldn't be able to find him. He was pretty sure that she wasn't so mad that she'd start tearing the house literally apart.

As he got closer to his destination, he spotted Conan sitting on the edge of the porch. Shoot. Now he might need to rescue him too. Aoko probably wouldn't hurt him, but she was plenty scary. Conan didn't need to have nightmares about her. Conan looked up as Kaito approached, and his eyes widened. Kaito watched in surprise as he quickly changed his look of surprise to excitement as he jumped up and ran towards him. Conan shouted "Nii-chan!" as he approached and sort of jumped and hugged him. Kaito, who'd barely had a chance to brace himself, landed on his butt and watched, wide-eyed, as Conan started babbling about how'd he'd missed him and had been waiting for HOURS for him to get home. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Aoko standing there in shock. He turned his attention back to Conan, who was still going on about something without seeming to need to breathe. When Conan slowed down a bit, he noticed Aoko and smiled. Conan climbed off of him and went over to stand in front of Aoko. At least Conan's overdone greeting had caught Aoko off balance.

"Hello, Aoko-san! It's really nice to meet you as me! Kaito said he was going to tell you on the way home from school about me. Kaito's really cool isn't he? He told me that he always liked to run new tricks by you, since you were such a good audience, but he didn't want to wait too long to tell you about me, since you're best friends and all. Why were you racing home from school? Was it that bad of a day in class?" Conan asked innocently.

Kaitostared at Conan. He hadn't been completely sure if Conan had just had a lot of sugar, and had missed him before, but now...they'd never discussed when Kaito was going to tell Aoko. The sneaky little devil. He was really going to owe Conan after this. He was completely disarming her. And how had he done such a good job? Who was Conan's real mom? No normal kid was quite like him. He shook his head as Aoko eyes flitted to his.

"It's good exercise to run, didn't you know that, Conan?" Kaito said as he stood up, putting a smile that was halfway between friendly and cheerful, and sheepish.

"Um...right," Aoko said, looking at him a little closer, "Kaito didn't have much of a chance to really tell me about you. Why don't you tell me instead?" she asked, turning her attention back to Conan.

Conan looked down at the ground. "My mom died when I was born, so I lived with my aunt. She...died recently, and they found out that Kaito's really my big brother...well, at least my half-brother. He's been really nice, him and Mom."

It was all there, the quiver in the voice, the hint of sadness and hurt, and the attempt to change the subject away from something that was sensitive to something he'd rather talk about. Kaito ruffled Conan's hair a bit before looking at Aoko, who was staring at him.

"I'll tell you later," he said, since if the story'd been real, he wouldn't have wanted to talk about the fact that the kid's mom had drugged his dad who was married to another woman to have him in front of him. He'd only briefly explained it to Hakuba since Conan was out of it, and he'd known Hakuba would try digging up answers on his own. The paperwork was probably in place, but it was better not to invite too close a look. And Conan, of course, knew the story wasn't real, but no one else knew that, and while Kaito wanted to explain, if to anyone, Aoko, he didn't want Conan to be found.

Her eyes widened briefly, but she didn't say anything. Kaito knew some of the things that might be going in her mind, and he really didn't want her to dwell on them too long.

"I see you're doing well, Kuroba," Hakuba's voice came from behind Kaito. Kaito turned slightly and glared at him. Evil person. Apparently Hakuba had followed Aoko and him, though at a slower pace.

"Um...sorry about the other day...you scared me, and my aunt always used to say if a stranger scared me to attract as much attention as possible," Conan had come up beside Kaito and was looking sheepish and embarrassed. Poor kid.

Aoko looked between the two and asked, "Hakuba scared you? What did you do?"

Conan stared at the ground. "I yelled he was a pervert..."

Aoko wasn't able to suppress her laughter, and Kaito, who hadn't been able to really laugh at the situation at the time, did manage a bit of a smile. It had been unnerving seeing Conan like that, but having Conan call him a pervert was funny.

"What on earth did you do, Hakuba?" Aoko asked finally, "Scaring a cute kid like this?" She smiled down fondly at the still embarrassed Conan, whose face turned slightly redder.

Hakuba had also turned a bit red himself. "He looked like he'd been beaten up, he didn't have anyone watching him, and I didn't want to leave him alone."

Aoko's attention turned to Kaito. "Alone?" she asked, a hint of steel in her voice.

Having so recently escaped Aoko's wrath, he was loath to return to it. Fortunately, Conan explained, which did make sense since he knew more about what had happened, if not much more. "It wasn't his fault. I got this used skateboard, and I hadn't ridden it before. It was solar powered, and I must have touched some start thing when I got on, 'cause it went off like a bullet! I couldn't find any brakes and Kaito tried running after me, but it was going really fast, and he couldn't keep up. It slowed down when I went under an over pass, which is why I think it was solar powered, and I jumped off. It was still going, and when it got back into the sun it speed off. I took off my skateboarding things cause they were rubbing against some of my sore spots, and I...well...I was afraid I'd get into trouble if people knew that was my skateboard, even though I didn't know it was some failed science experiment, I swear!" Conan's eyes were pleading as they stared up at Aoko.

"That was your skateboard? My dad was swearing about it all weekend!"Aoko said.

"Your dad?" Conan asked cautiously.

"He's a police officer," Aoko said then hastened to reassure Conan, "Don't worry, he won't get mad at you if you didn't know, and I don't have to tell him, though it might help if we knew where you'd gotten it."

Conan shrugged, slightly embarrassed, "I don't know. It was a present."

"Well, nothing you could have done then," Aoko reassured him.

"How fast do you think you were going when you jumped off? Are you doing all right?" Hakuba asked. Kaito looked at Conan. His mom had been taking care of Conan, and Conan had been wearing a long-sleeve shirt, so he wasn't sure. He'd just tried to make sure they hadn't done anything really physically demanding.

Conan self-consciously rubbed his upper right arm. "It's okay. The bruising is starting to go down some."

"Hm," Hakuba said, letting that go, "So, you look to be of Japanese descent. Why do you have an English name?"

"My mom named me before she died. I don't know why. Why do you have a Japanese name? Are you from America or England or Russia or something?" Conan asked, sounding curious andlooking as innocent as only a child could. Kaito knew it might seem to Aoko and Hakuba that that was the truth, but especially after this afternoon, Kaito knew that Conan was asking an impolite question as revenge for Hakuba's lack of tact. Possibly for his previous rather poor handling of a situation as well. Kaito shook his head slightly. Conan sure was an interesting kid.

Hakuba's face shuttered slightly. "I'm half-Japanese. I have lived in England a bit as well."

"Oh," Conan said, "Well, I need to go finish my homework, but I'll see you later! You're just as nice as Kaito said you were Aoko-san!"

Shinichi was smiling as he went back in the house. It had been a bit awkward at times, but he'd accomplished his goal. Aoko was obviously a lot calmer now, and she wasn't going to start up on Kaito again as soon as he left, especially since he'd probably just unsettled her with his last remark. He only wished his confrontation with Ran, whenever that happened, would be as easily defused, but it was one thing to play a trick like faking a friend into thinking they have the ability to shrink people, it was another to fake one's death. And then pretend to be a kid who needed a home and asked questions as the kid that the teenager couldn't have asked without possibly getting punched.

Shinichi sighed a bit and on the way through the living room he saw that the news had been left on. He watched in surprise as a Pierce Reiko, someone he didn't recognizewas intervieed by a news reporter. Apparently she was a PI hired by his parents to investigate his disappearance and quite possible death (at least to the general public's mind). Why hadn't his parents told him about her? He didn't recognize her either, but on the other hand, he'd never seen Kotori and apparently his and Kaito's parents were such good friends that Kotori agreed to pretend that her husband cheated on her, even accidentally. Apparently she was from America (might explain why he'd never meet her) and that her mother was fromJapan. It was hard to tell her height, but she had short, dark red hair that was layered around her face, and green eyes. She was pretty, in a foreign way, but she dressed pretty...unprofessionally. She was wearing khaki cargo jeans with black boots, a dark green tank top, and fingerless gloves. She wore an armband on her left arm, an interesting choker that seemed like it was made with many thin silver wires in an almost lace-like pattern, post earrings that matched the choker necklace in the upper part of her ear with small hoop earringswhere ears where normally pierced.

He watched for a bit longer, and resolved to ask his parents about it later, AFTER he finished his homework.

Unfortunately, after homework was finished, it was time to eat. After it was time to eat, Kaito decided he wanted Conan to relax, and didn't exactly give him a choice. They were in the living room, and Kaito seemed like he was trying to think of how to phrase his question. Shinichi guessed what he wanted to ask about.

"Aoko's pretty scary," Conan said, though Shinichi thought Ran was more intimidating. This wasn't just personal bias, this was Shinichi having seen Ran destroy things that no normal person should be able to with her bare hands. After that, a teenager wielding a mop or broom didn't quite hack it anymore.

Kaito grinned. "Yup. Speaking of which, how did you manage that? You were great!"

Conan shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "I told you you needed to tell her yourself. Mom always was annoyed if she found out something I did from someone else. So I figured if I said that you were planning on telling her, and soon, that she wouldn't be so mad."

Kaito shook his head slightly. "Not just that. Everything. You threw her off balance when you pounced on me and acted the hyper little brother, after which you finished everything by telling her I was going to tell her and that I always run my new tricks by her because she's a good judge. The best part was when you asked if school was so bad that we had to run from it. And you're really good about following your cover story."

Shinichi winced. Kaito was pretty smart, he'd better tone it down a bit. "Well, I didn't want you to be hit. And mom was really worried about me, so she made me practice a lot." The practising thing, at least, was true. His mom had always insisted that he work on his acting skills.

"Do you miss her?" Kaito asked.

Shinichi sighed. He'd gotten used to his parents being gone a lot, and then they'd moved to America, so while he did love them, and he had often wished when he was younger that his parents wouldn't always be gone, he'd accepted that that was just how they were. Ran though...when they'd first meet, they'd had no other choice-they were together with the exception of bathroom breaks for months. She and Jennifer had been the only bright points during the entire thing, and then, of course, Jennifer had been killed. After having gone through that, they'd voluntarily spent most of their time together. When they got older, they hadn't been able to spend as much time together, but they saw each other pretty much every day. It hadn't even been a week since he'd left Ran, even if he'd only been Conan to her, and he really, really missed her. So when Conan quietly whispered, "Yeah," it was Ran Shinichi was thinking about.

Shinichi sat there, wishing he could be there, even as Conan, to help her through everything. She had to be really torn up, believing him dead. Kaito apparently sensed the fact that his question made him feel a bit depressed, and suggested a game of chess. That did take his mind off of things for a bit, and Conan was happy to have improved a bit from the last time they'd played.

Shinichi recieved a short email saying that once Pierce had settled down she'd get in contact with him, and that they were going to be unavailable for the next week or so. Shinichi was a bit disappointed that he hadn't been given any more information about the person that was investigating his disappearance/murder, but he'd soon hopefully be able to get in contact with her and discuss her plans of action (as well as making sure that he approved of her abilities). Meanwhile, he continued to put up with his new teacher, do his over abundance of homework (he figured he'd be finished with the material for the year before New Years at this rate), sort through the information he gathered from his informants and continue to work on his map (not only had he added new spots, but he listed a short description of the crime along with the dot in each place a crime had been committed), spent time with the Kurobas, and waited for news from Pierce, without results.

He'd noticed that Kotori had been acting a bit oddly since Friday, but since he'd just gotten a rather sizable amount of information from his informant from New York, he brushed it off. Sunday afternoon, Kotori had to run to the market for some meat, so Kaito and Conan were watching the news, because there wasn't much else on.

"And now for an update on the dissappearance and presumed death of Mouri Ran. A prominent young woman who not only excelled in school but won the National Karate Championship, Mouri-san was also the best friend of Kudo Shinichi who disappeared eleven days ago and is at this point believed to be dead. Early Friday morning, at 2:39 a.m., Takeda Mei called 110 to report that she thought she'd seen a murder happen. When the police arrived, the murderers were gone along with the body, but from the evidence left at the scene and the story Takeda-san gave the police, the police believe that Mouri Ran is dead. Tonight we have Takeda-san to tell us her story. Takeda-san, please tell us what happened."

"Well," Takeda-san, a woman who appeared to be in her late sixties, said, "I was awakened around one by some drunk man who must have misdialed a number. I had trouble going to sleep after that, so I went to the kitchen to fix a cup of tea. After that, I went to sit by the window. Watching the ocean at night always helps me sleep, but when I looked outside, I saw two dark figures arguing. They were hard to see, because they were both dressed in dark clothes, but I was pretty sure one was a woman because she had long hair. Anyways, I thought they were just a couple on a late night walk who'd had an argument, but then the woman started to attack the man when another figure came from behind and smashed her head with something small he had in his hand. The police told me it was probably the butt of a gun. Anyways, I covered my mouth to keep from screaming because I didn't want them to come after me, and ran to call the police. When I came back to the window, everyone was gone, even the dead woman. It was horrible, what happened to that poor girl, and right after her friend died. At least they're together now."

"Thank you Takeda-san. It was indeed lucky that the Takeda-san was awake, because the police believe that the waves would have washed away all of the blood. They were only able to identify the blood after Mouri Kogoro, a private detective and former police officer called in some favors when his daughter never came home, and another police detectve matched Mouri Ran's hospital records with the blood found on site. Mouri Ran's parents are unavialable for comment, but we hope that they, and the Kudos, will be able to recover from loosing their only child. This is Uematsu Akira with the AKH News at 5."

End of Chapter 6

Don't kill me. I really tried to make it not happen, but it did. Sorry! I'll try and update again soon!

Note: I did look the phone number for emergency phone numbers in Japan, and 110 is the emergency number for the police, while 119 is the emergency number if you need firemen or an ambulance. Hopefully you'll never need to know this, but I figured I would mention that those should be the correct numbers.

Note 2: I would like to note that I put the last names first through out this story, as they do in Japan, in case you were confused about why some of the names listed first sounded more like last names. Also, I might have missed a few things, but I wanted to get it out since it was late. And a big thanks to my friend for looking through it!


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